


Guardians of Forever

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-14 22:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang figures out that fighting themselves is harder than anything evil can throw at them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pairings: Wesley/Faith, and from there, your guess is as good as mine
> 
> Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I can't make any money off of this, because it all belongs to someone else. He just lets me play with them for a while. I'll put them back when I'm done.
> 
> Notes: Sequel to "Guardian Angel" and "Guardians of the Gate". I know, lame title. But I always go with the ones that come to me first. Go figure. So if you wanna know what's happening, it might be a good idea to read the other two first, or you might be a little lost. Timeline wise, this story takes place approximately four months after "Not Fade Away", Angel season five. So if you haven't seen S5, there are spoilers.

Chapter One – Push Comes to Shove

"Take you fucking hands off me, dickwad."

Faith threw the beast over her shoulder and put herself into her fighting stance yet again. They were coming out of the woodwork. Well, since that's where they lived, they would come out of the woodwork. So stakes wouldn't work. The dagger in her hand flashed in the dim light of the warehouse. Another slash and the thing would be history.

"Duck," a voice yelled from behind.

Faith could almost feel the bullets whiz by her ear as she dropped to the floor. Damn watcher. Couldn't wait to fire those guns of his.

"Keep it in your pants," Faith retorted back to Wes, rolling to stand again.

Shit, her clothes would be ready for the garbage if they kept going like this. Turning, she saw her watcherman raise his pistols again, keeping his hands busy. And of course, just her luck, one of the creatures sneaked up behind him. He was too far away from her.

"Wes," she yelled, only she didn't have to.

The caped crusader had arrived at the best time. Angel took down Wesley's sneaky attacker. Swinging her arm around, Faith took care of her last demon as Angel snapped the neck on his.

"That was bracing," Angel said as he wiped his palms on his pants.

"Oh, yeah. Bracing my ass. You come in, snap one guy's neck and think you saved the day?"

Faith was pissed. Not at Angel necessarily, but definitely at herself. She let some low-life demon get to her watcher. That was totally not cool. She screwed up royally.

"Yes, what she's trying to say Angel is thank you for your help," Wesley chimed in.

Wesley glared at her for her rudeness. No one could mistake how he cocked those damn eyebrows when he was the least bit perturbed at her. His now pissy mood would be her pissy mood. They fed off of each other like a wild pack of dogs, only neither one of them was the alpha dog.

"Yeah, thanks. You jackass," she mumbled.

Angel just sighed. Of course he heard her. Supernatural hearing was a blessing and a burden. Wesley only started to put away his weapons, ignoring her comment.

"What were you two doing?" Angel inquired.

"Huh? Uh, our jobs. Remember. Slayer," Faith said as she pointed to herself. "Watcher," she added as she pointed to Wesley.

"Slayer," Angel pointed back at her. "Dead. Watcher," he now pointed at Wesley. "Even deader. No backup."

"I don't need backup," Faith countered.

"Oh yeah. Not when there's, say twenty of these things to take down. And I don't think that Wesley brought enough bullets."

Faith heard a little intake of breath from Wesley, but nothing else. He wasn't taking the bait, so why should she?

"No guns, Angel. Don't need them."

Angel just smirked as he started to walk towards her. He slammed his large hand down onto her injured shoulder, pushing in to make his point. He left as he always did, in a flourish, with that damn duster flapping around him like there was some wind in the place.

"Faith," Wesley went on. "We need to tend to your shoulder."

"I know. Can I just stake him now? Pretty please?"

Wesley chuckled a little. "Make it fast before Buffy gets back from Rome."

"Oh, yeah, like she'd care. She's sworn off men, like forever."

"Or at least until the weekend."

"Hey, I can't even go that long," Faith added, seeing Wesley pale a little.

Strolling over, she placed her hand in his.

"Faith, I . . . ," he started.

"No. Time. I agreed. And I suffer the consequences."

Wesley groaned back a response. "This is not what I had intended when I said that I needed time. It's not that I don't," he stammered out.

"Don't what? Want to throw me to the ground right here and have your way with me?"

The blue spark that formed in his eyes was unmistakable. Why did she have to put her foot into her mouth again? Probably because that's what she was good at, always. His hand came up to cup her cheek, thumb rubbing gently. If he didn't touch her soon, she'd explode into a million pieces. With the way he was looking at her right that moment, it wouldn't take much to do just that.

She closed her eyes to cherish the sensation that his callused hand was making on her face, traveling throughout her body. If he didn't stop, she would throw him on the ground and consequences be damned.

"Your shoulder?" he asked.

"Not my shoulder that needs tending, Wes."

He abruptly removed his hand. Damnitdamnitdamnit. Fuckfuckfuck. Opening her eyes, she could see the battle that he waged in his brain. She was number two, second best, not quite up to snuff, or whatever those sayings were. She just didn't cut it.

"We should go, then," he finally said after their staring match.

Before he could make it out of the building, she spoke up. She had to speak up, so he would at least know why her mood was so strange at the moment.

"You scared me," she said to his retreating back.

He stopped abruptly. "How so?" he asked without turning around.

"You were too far away. I couldn't back you up in time."

He turned to glare at her, yet again. "I can handle myself."

"The demon was aiming for your head," she admitted to him.

"Oh," was all that came out. His eyes went wide. "Oh, dear, that explains everything."

Words always went flying out of her head when she was trying to express how she felt about someone. Not that the man with the big brain over there was any better with the feelings crap. She wasn't a talker, she was a doer. Striding over to him, she grabbed his jacket and yanked him forward to slam up against her chest. She grunted in pain a little, but no pain, no gain.

The two of them just stood there, bodies crushed up against each other, and stared. Neither one made a move. Faith could feel the hard planes of his chest, the breathing patterns he had at the time (which hey, really fast because she was pressed up against his front really, really snug-like). When the kiss came, it wasn't unexpected. He just took too damn long to start it. She had wanted on several occasions to slam him up against the nearest wall and strip him naked. She almost did that to him the night that they said that they would try to have some kind of whatever, relationship or something. Only his distance now was killing her.

His lips were soft and warm against hers. Sliding them across hers, he deepened the kiss just slightly, making her gasp a little in response. How he could do this with just his lips amazed her. But she wanted more from him. And he couldn't give more until he gave up the ghost, literally. Trailing her hands up his arms and then his neck, she brought his head down further and dove in when he opened his mouth to protest. She had him panting and throbbing in no time flat. Of course, he pulled away at the last moment.

"Your shoulder," he said, making it come out as a statement instead of a question.

"Kind a wicked, isn't it?"

"Not the most attractive wound you've ever gotten."

"Yeah, I'll show you attractive," she said as her hand snaked around him to give his nice ass a firm squeeze.

"Faith, this isn't exactly the time or place for this kind of thing."

Faith linked her good arm around his and led him to the door. "You're all hot and horny, now aren't ya?"

Wussy Wesley would have fainted at her question. Her watcher Wesley just chuckled, flashing a smile her way.

\--------------------------------------------------

"We cannot wait any longer."

"Well, who do you think you are, mister? You're not the boss around here," Willow threw back at Giles. "Oh, you are. But that doesn't mean anything. It's not like he's doing anything wrong."

"No, but you have to remember Willow what you did right after promising everyone that you wouldn't touch magicks ever again."

Oh, right, Willow thought. Throw that back in her face. So she had a little addiction going on at the time. She'd gotten through it. Only to face Tara dying and overwhelming grief pouring out her veins, making her magicks turn dark and ugly.

"I know. But no one's died. And what makes you think that he'll be anything like me?"

Giles sighed at her. Did he know best? He didn't go through all the horrors she went through. Holding it together for everyone, including herself, was almost insurmountable after her soiree into the dark side.

Giles got up to move around his desk to her side. Sitting down directly in front of her, he took her hands in his. The spark that passed between them was unmistakable.

"You feel it. Don't you?" he asked her.

How could she not feel it? It was like something got under her fingernails and she couldn't get it out. Yeah, she could feel it. Like one feels when they're at a train station and the train's coming in way fast.

"Yes, you know that I do." You jerk, she wanted to add.

"Now you understand my urgency."

"Oh, bloody hell. What is it with you? Xander and now Giles?"

Willow rolled her eyes. Spike could keep his cotton-pickin' comments to himself. She didn't know why he cared. He wasn't her mother. Giles quickly pulled his hands away from hers. Somehow she felt a little bit colder after he did. His presence always did ground her.

"Haven't you heard of knocking, Spike?"

"Don't need to. Bein' undead and all, I can go anywhere I want."

Willow watched as Giles stared the vampire down. She just hoped he didn't have a stake in his back pocket. She surely didn't carry any weapons of any kind.

"No you can't," Willow reminded him.

"Prove it, little one."

She hated it when he called her that. He had taken to calling her that lately. "Sun's really bright out this morning," she added.

"You know, this one's a smart one," Spike said as he pointed to Willow. "But when has that stopped me."

"Spike, what do you want?" Giles got to the point, wanting Spike to leave as quickly as possible.

"Trained with the little nibblets, like you asked. Wondered if I could get an advance on that paycheck you owe me."

Willow heard Giles snort. He never snorts. He really must have thought Spike was funny. Then she heard a laugh. He rarely laughed.

"You must be joking. You have a place to stay and all the blood you need."

"Man has needs, you know. Can't just live on blood and well, blood alone."

"Give me a shopping list, Spike. I'll pick up something for you on the way back from my meeting," Willow offered.

"Outta Weetabix. And there are these biscuits that go really well with the afternoon blood. Kind of gives it a little sweetness that tastes just so."

"I'm gonna barf. No more descriptions. Just a list," Willow declared as she handed Spike a piece of paper and pen.

"Thanks, pet. I really appreciate it."

Spike just stood there in the doorway after he gave Willow the list of things that he needed. She didn't recognize half of what was on the list. Must be an English thing. She just hoped she could find this stuff at the closest market.

"Spike?" Giles started.

"Yes, Rupert."

"Leave."

"Oh, right then. Council business and all. I'll just go," Spike said as he backed out of the room.

Willow turned to Giles and smiled. "He's bored," she mouthed back to the older man.

"I don't really care," Giles mouthed back.

But did Willow care? Of course she did. Spike was her friend, most of the time. He'd done some incredible things, such as sacrifice himself so the rest of them could live. And he still got on Giles' nerves. That had to be bonus points for him in her book.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"You missed," Wesley explained to Faith as they trained.

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? If I hit you too hard, you might break or something."

Faith being a whiny brat was not making their training session go all that well. He just wanted her to do what he told her to do and that was it. But she never listened. Why did he even try?

"I promise you, Faith. I will not break. Now hit me. Like I showed you."

Faith took the swing properly, but didn't put enough power behind it to his satisfaction. He hung his head down and sighed. When would she ever learn?

"Now, perform the maneuver again," he growled.

"You don't have to be a fucking prick about it. OK, OK, I'll do it. If you end up in the hospital, it will be your fault. Not mine. I warned you."

Every time he gave her instruction, it ended up this way. Faith held back until he became angry with her, then she let all lose and put bruises on him. Grinning and bearing became his motto. He didn't want her to think that he was going soft on her. Circling him, she tried taking pot shots at him, tried figuring out where she could take an opening. He had to concentrate just to keep up with how fast she moved sometimes. Becoming distracted around Faith wasn't a good idea.

When the throw came, he hadn't expected it. He had expected her to do the maneuver the way he taught her, not to be flat on his back, pinned to the hard ground.

"Fooled ya. Sneak attack," she said from above him.

Her hips squeezed in on his chest until he almost couldn't breathe. Those slayer muscles hard at work, he concluded. But he still liked to breathe. She lowered her face to his, taking some of the pressure away that had held him down.

"Faith, we are not playing games. We are training."

"Trained enough. I'm done. And you're apparently not," she said as she glanced down his body.

Now what on earth did she believe would happen? Intimately pressed up against her, how could he not become excited. Maybe he could use her lax attitude to his advantage. He quickly flipped her over onto her back, getting a grunt out of her for his efforts. And he didn't hold back one bit. Grabbing a hold of her arms, he pinned her to the ground, exactly like a vampire would to reach her neck easily. Only she decided to wrap her legs around his waist, tight.

"You gave me the advantage. What do you think would happen if you did that out in the field?"

"If it was with you, I'd say we were gonna get lucky. If it was a vampire, he'd be dust by now."

Her eyes twinkled darkly at him, a little smirk playing on her lips. They really did need to work through this, whatever they were doing. He hadn't wanted to rush into anything, but she kept right along trying to pull him deeper into her spinning web.

"Wesley," she panted out.

"Yes, love."

"Hate it when you just stare at me that way. Make up you freakin' mind," she said with a little bit of anger in her voice. "I am really, really getting tired of this, you know. If you don't scratch this itch of mine, maybe I'll just go somewhere else."

She wouldn't dare, he thought. Oh, yes indeed she would, he concluded as he looked into her eyes. Did he want her to be happy? Happiness had been so fleeting for him in the last couple of years. Slowly he let go of her hands to get up from the floor.

"That's not what I meant. I mean, I'd never do that. Wes, wait," she begged him.

But he climbed to his feet and started to leave. Grabbing his duffel, he made his way to the door. Faith blocked it with her body, obviously not done with the conversation at hand. She had made it crystal clear what she wanted from him. And he wasn't ready to accommodate her.

"I'm leaving," he told her as he got to the door.

"Nope."

"You can't stop me. Get out of the way."

"You are gonna talk to me if I have to beat it out of you."

Her anger was bubbling up, he could tell. But he just wanted to get out of there before either one of them did something they would regret.

"Get out of the way," he barked out at her.

"This is not gonna end here."

When he tried to move her physically out of the way, she ended up using the new technique he had shown her to subdue a demon with her hand. He went flying across the room and landed with a thud. Seeing stars, he lay on the cool floor for a moment to gather his bearings. Maybe she had been correct in assessing the situation. Getting knocked across the room was not a good idea. On the contrary, it was a bloody bad one.

"You stupid watcher jerk," she screamed as she ran over to see if he was all right. "Now you see," she managed to choke out. "I don't wanna hurt you."

Was she crying? Oh, no, he had made Faith cry. That wasn't his intention. But as he arose from the floor to comfort her, to tell her that it was completely his fault, she stalked over to him, planted a hard kiss on his lips, then kicked him in the shin, none too gently. As she marched over to the other side of the room to retrieve her belongings, he watched as her rounded hips swayed as she moved away from him.

The kiss and the kick shut his brain down completely. He didn't have time to respond to any of it. That was her intention. To draw him so off sides so he would be speechless. Well, it had worked like a charm. Limping over to the door, he gathered up his duffel again, to leave her be until she could cool down.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith paced the room a couple of times, throwing her towel this way and that, trying to figure her dumbass of a watcher out. She had to go and open her big mouth about the nonexistence of sex. Thriving on it, she missed it something fierce. Not like she hadn't gone without for long periods of time. But with him tall and all dangerous looking, she couldn't take this much punishment of having him that close and not be able to touch the way she wanted.

It had been a while since he had even mentioned what happened in LA. So why couldn't he just get over it? Maybe because she wasn't good enough for him and he didn't know how to tell her. That had to be it. Then why did he stick around? Giles could give him any slayer that he wanted. Or he could research. Hell, he could be a member of the Council itself and would have more creds than the buffoons on it right now.

Wearing him down seemed to be working, but she didn't exactly want to go chasing after his coattails. Not her style. Which was exactly what she was doing. Must be why he was backing away. So she'd let him make the moves. She wouldn't make it easy on him, no. Let him decide. But it had to be fucking soon.

Grabbing her bag, she made her way over to the door. Only what she saw on the other side scared her.

"Hello, my dear slayer. Thought that I'd let you all get away with what you did?"

Faith thought, oh, fuck just before she went flying through the air. The window came up on her way too fast for her to think about defense. As she crashed through, she hoped that she wasn't that far up from the ground. Of course, she was and hit the ground with a resounding thump. Blackness enveloped her.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wesley slammed into Angel as he came barreling around a corner. Angel wasn't being all lurky, he just wanted to speak with Wesley about the plans they were forming. The four of them couldn't stay at the Watchers' Council forever. They would have to either go back to Los Angeles, or form a new base of operations somewhere else. He opted for going back to LA. But he wouldn't speak for the others.

"Why do you always do that?"

"Sorry. I didn't see you, Wes. Where's, uh, Faith?" Angel replied, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Wesley flashed his teeth at him and not in a good way. "Who?"

They had a fight, again. That seemed to be all they did lately. He just wished they would kiss and make up.

"If you need to talk, I'm here." There, he said it. He didn't want to be in anyone else's business, but the two of them were starting to get on his nerves.

"What is wrong with the woman? Can you please tell me?"

Angel had no earthly idea what he was talking about. Wesley had never been blind, maybe a little dense at times, with his head buried in those books of his. Angel could be accused of being dense too. He'd admit that to anyone. Well, everyone but Spike.

"Uh, can you tell me what happened?" He should have kept his mouth shut.

"She bloody well believes that she's right. Apparently, I can't see what's right in front of me."

Maybe he needed new glasses. Or contacts or something. Angel shook his head.

"Doesn't she trust me to do the right thing?" Wesley went on.

Uh oh, big can of worms there. Angel didn't remember a time when Wesley trusted himself. The man was surprised when anyone else trusted his judgment.

"What thing?" Angel asked.

"What thing? Haven't you been listening?"

"Well, yeah."

The crash that came from up above was loud. It started to rain down small bits of glass. Angel couldn't investigate because the corridor would protect him, but the blazing sun outside would fry him to a crisp in moments.

"Oh dear God," Wesley called out as he headed towards the sound.

His scream of anguish cut right through Angel, but he couldn't go out there. Even though one of his best friends lay on the ground, possibly dying. Faith's leg lay at an odd angle and there was glass all around and embedded in her. Luckily several other people gathered around Wes to help.

Quickly, Angel ran up the stairs to see if he could tell what had happened. Entering the room where the big window was broken, he smelled the air for signs of anything familiar. Dark magicks snapped and popped all around him. And another, more familiar scent captured his attention.

Angel almost went into game face as he searched the floor and stairways to find the man. How he got into the place was a mystery. Giles wouldn't be pleased. Someone else had breached the security of the Council.

Spike called out to him as Angel rushed down the stairs to see if he could find out how Wesley was fairing with Faith.

"Hey, why is Faith flat on her back out there? Doesn't look very good, either. The two lovebirds didn't have it out, did they?"

"No, no fight. We need to track someone. The someone that just tossed Faith out that window."

Spike looked deadly serious for once. "Who?"

"Ethan Rayne. And don't kill him. You can break him a little, just don't kill him."

Angel pointed him in the opposite direction that he was headed. With any luck, one of them would be able to track the Chaos mage down so they could interrogate him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"My, my, my. Two birds with one stone. Didn't really think that I'd be able to complete my task for the day. I'm lucky that way."

Willow's heart almost jumped out her throat from the voice directly behind her. Before he had time to move, she subdued him with her mind, thinking that if she even had tried to move a muscle, it would not have been a pleasant outcome for her. Her first strike caught him unaware.

"Not going to hold for long," Ethan grunted out.

Willow turned to face the man, bringing up her arm to point at him. Turning her hand around, she bound him even tighter in his magical bonds.

"Not very nice to sneak up on people. Why are you here?"

"You think that you have more power than me, little girl?"

She knew she had more power than he did. He pushed against her barriers, but they all held tight. Having power and knowing how to use it were two entirely different things. He should know that by now.

"Yep, I sure do. And I also know how to use it."

"You really think that you do," he shot back, pushing on her barriers even harder.

The last time Ethan had been in Sunnydale, he didn't have this much power. Where'd he get all this power? Or had he just learned how to harness his power better? Whatever the reasons were, he needed to be stopped once and for all.

Before Willow had the chance to do anything else to Ethan, Giles came around the corner, startling her and ruining her concentration.

"Ethan," Giles cursed.

Being startled, plus Giles being all growly messed it all up. Willow didn't go flying across the corridor to slam against the wall, Giles did. Enough to distract her from subduing Ethan once and for all. Ethan didn't stick around for his usual gloat. He scrammed so quickly, Willow didn't have time to do anything other than run over to Giles.

She could see blood streaming down the side of his head, having hit a sharp part of the wall somewhere. Thank goodness he was out like a light, Willow thought. He would not be pleased when she told him that Ethan had made a clean get away.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, crap," Cordelia yelled as she watched the screen.

That bastard Ethan Rayne was back to cause chaos, literally. She just wished she could put some kind of double whammy on him and send him to hell. What she wasn't expecting was to see Faith on the ground, looking like she fell five stories from a building. Well, she had. No dying on her part. Not her time.

"What are you watching?" Doyle came running at her shout.

"Faith. Seems she tangled with that Ethan guy and lost big time."

"Do we need to prepare?"

"No. Thank God. Could you see Faith as a guardian angel?" Doyle grinned a little, far off expression on his face. "Francis? Gutter?"

"Oh, oh. No, I was just thinking . . . ."

"Yeah, about how she would look in one of those robe thingies. Stop. Right now. Our problems have only begun."

"Wes man go dark yet?"

Cordelia had been trying for weeks to figure a way to help Wesley out of the dark magicks building inside of him. Even in their little dimension, there were ripples. It might have something to do with him once inhabiting this dimension, or it could have to do with someone like Ethan Rayne trying to tap into his power.

"No, not if I have any choice. Any word?"

Not that she wanted any word. She wanted not to have to take on any more "projects" like Lindsey. Why, oh, why did the PTBs think she was running a halfway house for wayward souls? Perhaps it was because she'd had so much success with Lindsey. But he had been conflicted in life. Made it much easier to sway him to the good side after death.

"Yeah. Not pleasant, let me tell ya."

"Whatever it is, let's just get it over with."

"Cheer up. We'll make the best of it."

Look for Doyle to see the bright side of this situation. But the woman needed a guardian angel. Dead people really do suck.

"Where?"

"Where else?" Doyle answered in turn.

The two walked out of the cottage arm in arm. They would meet this challenge head on. Nothing could stop her from getting this right. Unless the bitch wasn't willing. Oh well, hell was sure hot this time of year.

Virginal white? Cordelia almost burst out laughing. Who did she think she was? She wondered if the figure on the blanket before her was ever virginal. The mission was the mission. Help the helpless, or in her case, the freakin' obnoxious, totally annoying, ultimately almost evil woman on the blanket before her.

Cordelia heard a little snort escape from the person on the blanket. Figures. She thinks this is funny. She'll show the woman funny.

"Is this a joke?"

"Oh, God, I wish it was. I tried sending you back, because hey, evil. They think that I can reform you," Cordelia announced dryly.

"Well, you can't keep a good woman down, now can you?" Lilah arose from the ground, running her hands across her white dress. "What's your excuse?"


	2. Why Me?

Chapter Two – Why Me?

"Why me?" Cordelia begged, looking up to the sky for no particular reason.

It wasn't like the PTBs were gonna answer her back anytime soon. Punishment for another screw up, she thought. Lilah just might be the guardian that broke the camel's back.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeing Faith lying on the ground muddled Wesley's brain to the point that all he could do was kneel beside her. And who kneeled beside him? The other watcher child, Sam; the one who thought that just because Faith hit on him that there should be some kind of affection returned in favor, until Wesley had glared at him that is.

The man immediately felt for a pulse while Wesley crouched frozen beside her. This wasn't like the time the both of them went flying out of the window at the prison. There had been a car to break their fall somewhat. He'd bruised quite a bit from the impact, but no broken bones. Wesley could tell that Faith's leg was broken, probably in many places by the angle it was now in.

He couldn't just let her lie there and suffer. Slowly he placed his hands down on her leg. Only instead of healing her, he saw exactly who had done this to her. Screwing his eyes shut, he tried to concentrate on healing Faith, at least enough until they got her to a hospital. The bones underneath his hands started to knit together, but not without a price. His hands shook with the intensity of what he was doing. His palms started to sweat, actually becoming quite hot with the efforts he was exerting. He could feel the pull of dark magicks swirling around him, pinning him down to the exact spot. He'd done too much, tried too much too soon. Faith's hand coming up to grip his forearm tightly brought him back to reality.

"Stop," she croaked out.

As he looked down at her leg, he could see that it no longer was in that odd position it had been in moments before. Hopefully he had healed her sufficiently enough where she would heal quicker. Everyone else who had come to Faith's aid were now several paces away from himself and Faith, most with a look of fear in their eyes.

"What did I do?" he quietly asked Faith.

"I'm not sure. Not sure at all," she answered back, slowly raising her body off the hard ground.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel felt it before he saw it. Well, he didn't actually see it, but he knew exactly what it was. He had felt this kind of magicks in the Hyperion the night he tried to open the portal to Quor-toth. That had not only been unsuccessful, he had left open some kind of fissure that invited all sorts of unappetizing creatures to invade his home. He had used these kinds of magicks when he wanted to awaken Acathla so long ago too.

He thought about trying to find Giles, to tell him that someone just used a huge burst of black, dark magicks, but thought that the watcher would know exactly what had happened.

This wasn't Ethan Rayne's type of magicks, the chaos magicks that floated around, causing trouble at every turn. This was evil, just like Angelus. The low hum in his chest spread out a little before he had a chance to squash it. Angelus needed to behave himself right then. Angel didn't have time for the other part of him to come out and play.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Giles was bleeding way too much for a man that just got hit on the head. Too much blood meant horrible things. They needed to get him to the hospital right away. Willow would just stabilize him so she could go call someone to help her. Only at the snap of her fingers, the dark magicks that flowed and ebbed around her came back full force. They slammed into her, knocking her off her feet suddenly.

Her body surged with energy, causing that euphoric feel that she had craved those long nights with Rack. Would everyone understand that she wanted just one taste? It would make her more powerful, to catch Ethan Rayne and whoever else was out there to hurt them. Giles's forehead cleared of blood with one swipe of her hand. But he still didn't awaken. She'd have to fix whatever else was wrong with the watcher.

"Willow, not the way," a quiet voice said beside her.

Yes, it was the way. If she had been stronger, she could have been able to save Tara. Tara would be alive right then, right by her side. Because she wasn't ready, wasn't strong enough, brave enough, Tara had died in her arms. That would not happen to Giles.

"He needs help," her voice choked out, not sounding anything like herself.

"You know as I do, if he finds out about what you did, he'll not be pleased."

Spike. Why did he have to butt into her business? She'd just use a little, just to heal Giles a little. Then back off very quickly. No one would know, now would they?

"Spike, he's not dying," Willow told him in a quiet voice.

"No, pet. He won't. But it isn't right."

Willow picked Spike up and slammed him against the wall, watching while the vampire slid to the floor. She couldn't let him interfere. Spike was shaken, but not permanently damaged. Slowly, taking her time, she could see that Giles's breathing looked more normal. She'd done it, without hurting anyone, well, too much. Blame would rest entirely on her shoulders.

Giles's arm snaked up and grabbed hers in a tight vice-like grip. She could feel the heat of his hand, the probing of his mind in hers. Not liking that one bit, she tried to throw it off mentally, but he held. Yielding slightly, she let him think that he controlled her use of magicks, until she barraged his brain with a blast of pain. Only it didn't quite work out that way. Grinning at her, he sat up, still unsteady. But the look in his eyes wasn't unsteady. They were downright scary.

"Was there something that you wanted?" he dryly said to her.

"For you to get out of my head," she screeched back, holding her head as if in pain.

"So sorry, dear," he announced as he flung her across the room, just before she got her own burst of energy and made him fly up to the ceiling and down to the floor at great velocity.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike groaned, dazed that Willow had actually slammed him against a concrete wall with great force. It really bloody hurt. Rubbing his head, he thought he heard Rupert telling her to give up, but then he saw them both sailing through the air, both landing with thuds. And he thought that Willow had hit him hard. Now both were out cold. Probably good, considering what had happened. Magicks always led to no good. They never worked when you wanted them to, and when they did, they didn't do what they were supposed to do.

It might take some explaining on this one. He'd been an innocent bystander in this battle. Looking at Giles, he knelt down to see if the watcher was still in the land of the living. Steady heartbeat greeted Spike, along with some black spidery veins. Very much the veins that the wicca had produced when she got her mojo on. If they weren't dark, then he'd kick himself. And here he thought that the little lady had learned to control those urges. Apparently, it was the wolf watching the henhouse. Giles was just as much into the dark magicks as Willow was.

"Spike, what the hell is going on?" Xander called from down the corridor.

Xander ran his way, with his new girlfriend on his heels. Clarisse. Lovely to look at, venomous to speak with. He basically stayed away from the bint. She kind of frightened him in the emasculating sense. He definitely didn't want to get on the wrong side of her.

"Harris. Seems I got in the middle of a feud. With blood flowing to show for it," Spike commented as he reached back to feel the back of his head. The sticky substance came off on his hand. No wonder it hurt like the devil.

Never a dull moment with those SunnyD alums. They knew how to find trouble without even lifting a finger.

"Spike, Willow's all veiny. Did you see why?"

Xander wanted to know what he saw. His head hurt too much to discuss the whole shooting match with the boy.

"I would say that Ethan Rayne has something to do with this. He attacked Faith, throwing her out a five story window."

"I do believe we need to have this place locked down yet again. And the Council will hear about this intrusion. This must stop."

"Oh, bugger it, lady. Rayne probably gained entrance from the crazy research boy. Go talk to him. I'm sure you'll find your answers there."

"We need to get them to the infirmary."

Wonder Boy is no longer a boy. He's take charge guy. Spike didn't want to be the take charge guy. He'd leave that to Percy and Rup. But Rayne? That man pissed him off. Coming in, hurting Faith, causing people to do things they normally wouldn't do. They'd catch him. And they'd make him pay. Spike didn't need any dark magicks to do that.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Her leg still hurt like hell, but at least she could move it. Wesley crouched over her, look of worry on his face. She was able to bring him down quickly, with only his eyes turning black at her predicament. Now Giles would be really pissed. He was threatening to send Wes to those witch ladies, to help him get control. Well, if that wasn't control, she didn't know what was.

"Faith, are you in pain?" he quietly asked her.

"Little. Thanks for the slayer boost. Even with the slayer healing, that wicked break would have taken weeks to recover from."

"I know. I should, um, get out of here."

He was bolting. By the look of everyone around her, they were scared shitless of him. He wasn't going anywhere without her.

"Probably should take me to the infirmary. Get this checked."

She got a little smile from him, but he was still wicked uncomfortable with the stare fest.

"I'll carry her," Sam announced from the sidelines.

So, Watcher Babe was around and on the clock. Not that she wanted him to be here to take care of her. Yeah, he was paying some attention to her. Not like she wanted him to, since, hey, Wes was way too possessive of her time. Training took up a lot of time on top of patrolling. She needed to keep sharp, just like he said every day to her.

"No," Wesley came out with a simple one word answer.

Faith almost chuckled, until she looked into his eyes. No black, just his deep fuck off you bastard blue. Something she could never imitate. Did they teach that stuff in Watcher school? She could never get the searing commentary down with just her eyes. Wesley's eyes spoke volumes, mostly to her though. Probably went right over the babe's head.

Sam backed away slightly. Well, maybe not so much over his gorgeous little head. He got the clue. Wesley gingerly picked her up, settling her in his arms like she weighed nothing. Which she knew definitely that she didn't. Slaying did work up some mean muscles. She curled her arms around him to hold on. He moved efficiently through the corridors until he came to the infirmary doors. Never did he look down at her. She was just hopin' it was because he didn't want to trip. Bastard didn't want to face what he knew was comin'.

"Oh, shit," came out as Faith saw that both Willow and Giles were being tended to also.

Spike and Xander stood guard over those two. Wesley's arms shook as he got closer to the two on the beds. Something was definitely not right.

"Put me down," she whispered in his ear.

"Perhaps I should. Before I drop you."

He slowly tried to back away from her, but she followed him at a limp, trying to stop him from leaving the infirmary.

"Whatever you're feeling, whatever it is, you can fight it. You did out there. Remember?"

He finally looked at her. Now she saw why he didn't want to look at her. He was scared. Possibly by what he saw in the infirmary. Possibly because of her.

"Yes, I did. We should set up some kind of dampening field around those two. Before they wake up."

Uh oh, her brain went. He was feeling something that no one else in the room was.

"Dangerous?"

"Could be," he ground out.

"What about you? Do you need some kind of dampening field?"

He took a couple of deep breaths before answering. "Not at the moment. They fed off of each other. It's made their magicks that much stronger."

That sounded wicked gross, kind of like the vampire thing.

"So you mean that they riled each other up, pumped each other up. They aren't gonna take down this place, are they?" Faith asked, totally serious.

"They could, if they wanted." His back was to the door now. Maybe it would be a good thing if he wanted to scram.

"You should do that. Get Angel to help. Spike and I will keep things under control here. Can you do that?"

Here she was, take charge girl again. So totally not her job. That was her watcher's job. This role reversal thing was for the birds.

"That would be the best course of action."

"Yeah would have done it."

He smiled at her a little from the verbal challenge. "Of course, my dear. Off I go."

Wesley literally fled the room after she had said to scoot. Not that she minded. Having two people not stable wasn't on the agenda. Having three would make it more than three times worse. The number three wasn't a favorite of hers. Things happened with the fucking number. It was not her lucky one.

"Where'd Percy run off to?" Spike asked as he waited with her.

"Trying to figure out why Glenda the Good Witch suddenly turned into the Wicked Witch of the West again. And she obviously brought a friend this time."

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Wesley whistled when he saw Angel across the courtyard. Angel stopped and waited as Wesley ran to catch up with him.

"Larger problem than Ethan Rayne. As a matter of fact, I think he triggered this. For what purpose, I haven't been able to ascertain just yet. But I need your help."

"Slow down. What happened now?"

Angel was a bit slow sometimes, but his genuine look of concern did help matters. He really did care for Faith and the others, although he often had a hard time actually showing it.

"Rayne somehow triggered something in Willow. She apparently released dark magicks all over, taking Giles in with her."

"Wait. She didn't take Giles in with her. He's just as capable of using those magicks as she is. I'll tell you about the Mark of Ephygon sometime."

"Giles? He didn't," Wesley said, astonished that Giles would dabble in that kind of demon worship.

"Library?" Angel responded, knowing that he would have to help.

"The only resource we have at the moment. Both Willow and Giles are unconscious. Faith and Spike are guarding them. But it will not do much good if the two of them decide that they don't want to stay."

"Faith? She's alright?"

How could Wesley tell Angel that he had healed Faith, with those same magicks that Willow and Giles now possessed? He had enough people scared of him. Although Angel would never be outwardly frightened of him.

"I fixed her leg enough where she can walk."

"Let's move," Angel pointed out as they strode down the corridors, to the library.

Slamming the doors open, Wesley went directly to the section he thought might help them. The librarian started to get up from her seat, but one look from Angel stopped her. Then she made a quick phone call, to see if there was a reason that two ruffians burst into her neat as a pin library.

"Look in Rhinehart's Compendium. I will need to find the references for how exactly Giles combated these energies in Willow before. Histories and such, the use of dark magicks."

Angel shook his head, doing exactly what Wesley told him to do. Running his fingers down pages, Angel found the references to the books that might help, while Wesley found out which section of the library contained all the dark, mystical tomes.

"Lady Satterly's Dictionary of Dark Matters."

"Long-winded bore," Wesley muttered under his breath.

"Um, the Rockner Codex, units A, B, and D."

Wesley located those where he thought they might be. "Lots to read through," he mumbled again.

"Let's see here. Oh, the Guardian Chronicles. Says here they contain some dark magick history."

"Might help. Is that all?" Wesley had grabbed that volume also.

"Oh, another one. The Suisse Prophecies and Other Happenstances in History. Sure you need that one?"

"I won't be certain until I go through that."

"Just that there's this chapter, not very flattering to me. You can overlook it."

"Then it's yours to peruse."

Angel gladly took the volume and parked himself at one of the long tables.

"Damn. How does one do research and there's no writing implements and pads to take notes?"

"They are not allowed in here, Mr. Wyndam-Pryce. Forbidden as always."

"Bugger that."

Wesley marched around the librarian's desk, pulling drawers open, finding what he needed, then slamming the drawers home.

"Twit," he muttered as he tossed Angel a pad of paper and a pencil. "Any reference to the use of dark magicks and triggers. We need to find out how Rayne did what he did. He was the cause of all this nonsense."

"And when I catch him, I'm going to break his legs so he can't escape this time."

Wesley looked over at Angel reading, skimming for any information that they could find. He missed this. The camaraderie that they used to have with each other, to find a solution to a problem. Perhaps some things never did change.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"OK, not getting it, Cordy," Fred sighed as she watched the screen.

"Did you see that? I did that."

"What? Got that Giles guy and Willow spewing dark magicks everywhere? Because if you did, they are so gonna be ticked at you."

"No, stupid. Angel and Wesley. They're talking. Hey, they're researching together. It's a start."

"Not really talking, you know."

"Or they might just be holding hands under the table," Lilah added as she sat down next to the two women.

"And why is she here, Cordy? To annoy the hell out of us? Punishment if we screw up?"

"Redemption's a bitch, isn't it, Winifred?" Lilah called back.

"I'm gonna hit her. Just you wait," Fred declared before holding both of her hands down.

She was so gonna go all postal on her, as Gunn would say. Lilah was itching to be taken down a peg. Fred knew she might just get in big trouble if she and Lilah went at it like two wild animals, but she had to put her foot down. The line was drawn here, Fred concluded. This woman would not intimidate her, not make her cry, not push her around. She simply wasn't taking any shit off of the woman. End of story.

"Oh, dear. And here I thought you were an actual angel. How little he really knew about you."

Lilah sometimes hit below the belt and kept going, no matter who got hurt in the process. Fred was gonna be strong, at least to hold herself back from using her fists.

"Lilah, so help me, I will send you back in the blink of an eye. They sent you here for a reason. Make sure you don't fuck it up." Cordelia looked way too serious for Fred.

"Why don't you tell me why I'm here? I'm not a Ms. Goody Two Shoes like the Texas twig. What am I supposed to do?"

"You're going to be Faith's new guardian angel," Cordelia announced.

"What?" Fred yelled.

"No way. That psycho girl. Not happening."

"Serves her right. Faith will keep her on her toes," Fred finished.

"One, Lilah, if you don't do a good job, it's back to wherever you came from. And from what I hear, it's just gonna get worse for you. Talk to your father lately?"

Lilah's posture changed immediately. She stood ramrod stiff on the sofa, eyes forward, kind of like she was trying to hide something. Fred knew better. Those repressed people said more in their posture than they could with their mouths. Whatever her hell was, it must be way times worse than Fred could ever imagine. And Lilah had been down there for quite some time.

"How did you do it, Cordelia? Get them to release me from my contract? What kind of pull do you have?"

So Lilah wanted to know how Cordelia managed to have her sent to this realm. Fred wondered the same thing about herself. One moment, a floaty nothingness, the next minute, sitting on the grass, feeling the warm breeze in her hair.

"Oh, or could it be the fact that you were the one that actually killed me? Probably makes you feel mighty guilty."

Cordelia didn't take the bait. She just held her head high. But Fred wasn't going to take any crap from the bitch queen.

"That wasn't Cordy. You know that."

"That Jasmine chick? When did you cease being you? I'm thinking that you didn't come back, say, right after your little vacation with that hunk of burning love from Pylea. Am I right? Because let me tell you, that made my job of luring Wesley away from your clutches so much easier."

Cordelia's hand reached out so fast, Fred jumped in response too. The slap could be heard throughout the house. To make Cordy react like that, to get a real rise out of her, maybe it was true.

"You hurt him," Cordelia whispered.

"I helped him. You all abandoned him. Treated him like dirt. He almost died for trying to do what was right. And you all turned your backs on him. Angel can screw or kill whoever he likes, but anyone else mess up, out the door they go. Am I right Cordelia? Been on the receiving end of that?"

Cordelia walked away. Simply just walked away. Fred had never seen her do that. The woman was always up for verbally sparring, especially with evil beings such as Lilah. But was Lilah supposed to be evil? Then the realization hit her square in the face. Fred knew exactly why Cordy had walked away. It just wasn't guilt she was facing.

"You loved him, didn't you?" Fred blurted out before thinking, only not finishing the sentence the way she wanted. Lilah could never know why she didn't finish the sentence. But she would ask Cordelia later the thoughts on her feelings towards Wesley.

Fred got enough of an emotion playing across Lilah's face to know that it was true. Lilah did love Wesley in her own twisted way. Her games with him turned to something deeper and much more real than she had anticipated.

"You really think you know everything, smart girl. Well, you don't. Just ask Cordelia why she walked out of this room. Maybe then you'll get some answers."

Lilah turned to make her exit also, making it to the door before Fred spoke up again.

"Lilah, one more thing? If you do anything, anything to hurt him, I will personally see to it that you fry in hell for the rest of eternity. He has a chance to start over. And you're not gonna ruin that. And you're not gonna ruin it for Faith either."

"So you're just letting her have him."

"Yeah. Because she'll keep him alive. Something I couldn't do."

Fred quickly ran from the room before Lilah could ask her any more questions. She already revealed way too much to the bitch. Fred promised herself that she wouldn't interfere with Wesley, because the feelings and the hurt were too close to the surface. The jumble in her mind had cleared somewhat in the past couple of weeks. All she wanted was for him to be happy. And if she had to send everyone whoever crossed him to hell to do it, then so be it.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Willow groaned as she felt the big lump on the side of her head. How had she gotten a lump the size of a watermelon? What had she been doing to get that watermelon attached to her head?

"I need some good drugs, like, right now," she mumbled out.

"Willow?" Spike answered back.

"Yeah, unfortunately, that's my name. My head's gonna fall off any minute here."

"Thank fuck she's not going postal on us again."

Oh, geez. Did Faith just say that she went postal again? No way. Couldn't happen. Maybe. Willow slowly opened her eyes, shielding them with her hand. The light was so bright, she couldn't make out anyone until Spike moved in the way of the glariness.

"How are you, little girl? Head hurt?"

"Yes, intensely. Someone wanna fill me in on what I did?"

"Nothing much. Just slammed me and Rupert up against some walls. Although this time I think the watcher deserved it. Feeling any darkness in that head of yours?"

Oh, crap. She knew exactly what he meant. Those dark magicks must have reappeared at the worst time. Why couldn't she remember any of it?

"You don't remember, do you?" Faith answered back.

"Nope. Wish I did." She watched the faces of the two over her. "Or maybe not. I didn't blow anything up, did I?"

"Nah. You and Rupes went toe to toe though. Can't personally tell you about that since I have this nice, large cut on the back of my head now."

Spike turned a little to show her the bandage on the back of his head. She did that. He must have been trying to help her.

"I am so sorry, Spike. So sorry."

"Not the worst I've ever received, pet. Don't you worry."


	3. Give You What You Need

Chapter Three – Give You What You Need

"I'm worried. Giles? Why isn't he awake?"

Spike didn't know how to answer Red because he didn't know why either. The doc was finally taking a look at the old man (old was all relative in Spike's book). Since Giles had been knocked out too many times in the past, perhaps this time it was that one time too many. Spike contributed to that tally a few times, he admitted to himself. But he never wanted to see the watcher dead, at least after he got the soul, that is. He did want to smack him around a little when Rupert let Wood have a crack at him. Wood deserved a crack at him for what he had done to the poor bloke's mum. Not a fair fight though. And to drag Buffy into the middle of it?

"Love, just hold on. The doc's lookin' at him right this instant."

"Oh, God. I remember. He's . . . ," Willow started, getting hysterical.

"Yes, do go on, Willow," Giles said as he carefully got up from his bed.

"Red, he don't look so good," Spike pointed out.

Yeah, Giles looked scarier than he ever had. That calm demeanor was what got to Spike. Like he could take all their heads off and like it while he was doing it.

"Will, I don't wanna hit him," Faith added.

Giles placed his feet on the floor, stood up and stretched. In the process, he pitched the doctor across the room.

"Bloody hell," Spike muttered, taking hold of Willow's arm.

As he looked at her, he could see that she was frightened. Not turning veiny, which was a good sign.

"Giles, you know, you need to . . . ," Willow stammered.

"Need to what, my dear. I seem to remember the last time we had a go at it, you tried to kill me. What don't you say we even the score?"

Faith grabbed her other arm and jerked her off the bed. "If you're gonna do something, Will, do it now."

"I, I can't. If I do, I might not be able to hold back."

The poor girl was shaking like a leaf. Here her mentor was cracking up and she was afraid to do anything about it. Spike decided to take the subtle approach.

"Rupert, Red here is too juiced up. Why don't you put that magic stuff back in your pants. We'll have a nice chat, maybe a cuppa. What'll ya say?"

Spike figured that it was worth the shot. Might piss the old watcher off. Might get through to him. Either way, Spike knew he was going to get thrown, just for his insolence. Giles could blame it later on whatever had possessed him.

His injured head smacked against the wall hard again. The blood that had stopped flowing from his wound reopened. As he staggered up from his position on the floor, he saw Faith take a swing at Mr. Big Man On Campus. And for her trouble, she got slammed too.

"Compescor," Wesley shouted from the doorway, hand flung out to stop Giles dead in his tracks.

"Watcher Boy to the rescue," Spike mumbled as he felt his head wound.

Willow crouched down, hidden partially by the bed in front of her. Rocking back and forth, she had put her hands over her ears. Giles stood frozen to the spot where Wesley had restrained him. Kneeling to Willow's side, Spike tried to get her to raise her head.

"Red, Wes stopped him. It's alright."

Spike figured it wasn't alright if Giles was using dark magicks and Wes was the only one strong enough to stop him at the moment. Willow could kick their collective asses, hands down. Why wasn't she doing it now?

"It's all my fault. It's all my fault. He's not supposed to be like this, Spike. Please make it better," Willow cried.

Freaked out women definitely were not his specialty. They just seemed to gravitate to him. Buffy and all her troubles when she came back, Illyria and her deity issues, even Faith and her watcher troubles. For once, he'd just like someone to talk to him, to need him just for Spike.

Willow was the damsel in distress this time. All be damned to hell if he wanted to see something happen to her. No one else died on his watch. Not ever again.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wesley nearly shouted "Eureka" when he found what he needed. Putting a particular binding spell on the two would be the only way. Then they would have to get the coven involved once again. These kinds of intricate magicks were over his head. Raw power didn't make up for not knowing all the tricks in the book. He hadn't studied much of what Willow and Giles already knew. Novice wouldn't even begin to explain it.

"Found it?" Angel asked as he put down his book.

"I believe so. Apparently since Giles still has the Mark of Eyghon on him, Rayne was able to use that to call forth any dark magicks that are present in Giles. I'm not so sure about Willow though. A binding spell strong enough should last until we find a solution from the coven in Devon."

"Don't you know this stuff?"

"In theory, some of it. In practice, I'm years behind the two of them. Probably why I didn't feel the affects. Rayne somehow targeted the two of them."

"You sure?"

No, he wanted to tell the damn vampire. He wasn't entirely sure of anything. But he had the control now, while Giles and Willow apparently did not. Did Angel trust him enough to let him do the job?

"Not one hundred percent. Ethan had some kind of an agenda. If we find out what that is, then we'll find out who is behind all of this."

Wesley picked up the book that he had been consulting, meaning to take it with him. It would give him all the words that he would need to say to be able to halt Giles and Willow's progress for a while.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, geez, that had to hurt," Lindsey said as he came in to watch the screen.

He had been looking for Fred, to see if she wanted to have a picnic on the grass before he had to tackle his next assignment. She had been so sweet with him lately, he just wanted to return the favor. He was so glad that he never tried to hurt her when he was alive, well, directly hurt her.

Faith was thrown across the room as the figure before him watched with anticipation. He could feel it roll off of her in waves. Off in the distance, Lindsey saw Wes walk into the room and stop the chaos with the wave of his hand. Magicks must be getting stronger, he thought. Could be a bad sign.

"Loverboy comes to the rescue."

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. What are you doing here?" Lindsey spit out, coming around and grabbing Lilah by the throat.

"My job," she choked out. "Now get your slimy hands off me."

"You're in hell. Permanently. You're evil."

"Yeah, join the club. Just because you're conflicted about it, doesn't mean you deserve here more than I do. They just want us to clean up their messes."

"Conflicted," Lindsey echoed, taking his hand from around her throat. "At least I have a conscience."

"At least I was always truthful."

"Not likely. Why are you here? I'm asking, because if I don't get the right answer, there will be hell to pay."

Lilah watched as Wesley helped Faith up from the ground where she had sprawled out.

"They didn't put you in charge of him, did they?"

"Hardly. They made me Faith's guardian angel."

"Oh, good God. Who's in charge around here? Did we all get moved to a hell dimension?"

"Maybe you will, honey, but I'm gonna make the most of this."

"You can't buy your way into heaven, Lilah."

Did Lilah know what it was to try and redeem herself, Lindsey thought? Did she even care for anyone on that screen, save Wesley?

"Who said I wanted to."

\------------------------------------------------------

Cordelia watched as Fred trampled on the daisies at the back of the house this time. The landscaping around it sure did take a beating when the girl got into a tizzy. Should she have said what she really wanted to say? Cordelia had seen it all coming, saw what would happen to Wesley, to the rest of her friends. She had tried so hard to change the outcome. Wesley dying had not been what she wanted. If Fred found out about her knowledge, would the girl ever trust her again?

"She's killin' the daisies again," Doyle said into her ear.

Good old Doyle. Always there for her when she needed him. That's what she loved about him.

"Yep. That she is."

"Not in a talking mood. First for Ms. Cordelia Chase."

"When did it get so messed up? Why is it that someone like Lilah can see right through me?"

Doyle turned her around to face him. "What'd she do now?"

"Nothing. Just forget it."

"Had to be about the Brit. I tell you, if I was a jealous man, I'd say the attention you pay that man is a little on the side of obsessive. Did the same thing with Angel back in the day, when you were alive."

"It was about the mission," Cordelia shot back.

"Sure. Tell that to someone who cares. It's me you're talkin' to, darlin'."

Shit, why did it have to be Doyle she was confessing to? He wouldn't understand this. She didn't understand this. It just was. Had always been.

"It's just that the three of us, we, well, we got close."

"You, Angel and Wes?"

"Yeah. We went through so much together."

"You were best friends. I understand. Very well, as a matter of fact."

"It fell apart. And I just wanted to hold them both and never let them go, you know," Cordelia told Doyle, starting to fall apart.

She had never told anyone this. Hell, she'd never admitted this to anyone. As Doyle looked into her eyes, it became clear to him. That she could see.

"I see," he said, embarrassed. He backed away towards the house. "I'll just go. See how our new charge is doing."

"Doyle, don't you walk away from me. It's not like that."

He whirled back to her, pointing his finger at her. "Then you tell me how it is, Cordelia. Tell me what this is."

"I love you," she wanted him to know.

"You're just not in love with me. You, why?"

"I do, I do love you. Don't you see?"

Cordelia wanted to ring his neck right then. This was so not how this was supposed to go.

"Oh, I see. Go take care of those you love."

"No," she shouted to him.

Off in the distance, Fred noticed them finally. She started to head towards them, looking like she wanted a fight also, fists at her sides.

"I failed," she yelled at him. "I screwed the both of them up so badly. I could have stopped all of it. But I didn't. They gave me a choice. Take the visions and become half demon or live a different life. No one would have fought the good fight if I'd chosen differently. I chose to go back to them, knowing that it would all fall apart. With the new power came the ability to see what was gonna happen. I tried to fix it. I really did. The Powers wouldn't let me go back when they saw how much I was meddling. I didn't want him to die. I couldn't let him die like that."

Cordelia never fell apart in front of anyone. It wasn't her style. Yet, here she was, in front of one of her best friends, falling apart, crying like a baby.

"You knew," Fred's voice called out softly from behind her. "You knew that Wesley would take Connor, that he would get his throat slit, that Angel would lose Connor to Holtz. Why did you let it happen?"

"I had no choice," Cordelia choked out.

"You did," Fred bit out. "You almost let him die. You let Angel try to kill him, have him believe that Wesley betrayed him. That's just cruel, Cordelia. Is that why you couldn't face Wesley after?"

"Cordelia, of all the things that you have done, this one tops it all," Doyle let her know.

"Is that why you pushed him towards me? Is that why you went after Groo, to push Angel away? You knew you couldn't have either one of them, so you hurt them both. They trusted you. And instead of loving them in return, you were the one who betrayed them. You," Fred yelled into her face.

"I didn't want any of that to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen. Every time I tried to fix it," Cordelia stopped short.

"You messed up," Fred finished for her.

"No. Every time I tried to fix it, someone got there before I could. Every single time." Cordelia concluded. "Who?" she asked herself, shaking her head.

"Excuse me? Are you telling me that you were manipulated? When you were doing all the manipulating?" Doyle said, arms crossed and closed off to her.

The Irishman hit the nail on the head. Every time Cordelia herself reacted, there was something in place to counteract what she had planned.

"When did you come back all wrong? After your birthday, or after your little vacation?" Fred asked of her.

"Um, the vacation. What? You think that I would have taken a vacation when all that stuff was happening? So not my style."

"Lilah knew when," Fred remembered.

"She did?" Doyle replied.

"She did. She knew. This means she's not telling us all she knows."

Cordelia was so gonna kick her ass before this was all over. If the Powers were playing games with her, they were so gonna feel her wrath too.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Faith's mood had not gotten any better. Traveling with Giles mumbling under his breath the whole way just made her feel dirty. The way he eyed her up and down, like she was a piece of meat. Not like he treated anyone else any better. He acted like he was possessed.

Now they were gonna get some wicca chicks to slap some sanity back into the man, so he'd quit saying he was gonna break every bone in her body. Yeah, she'd heard him too clearly. So had Angel and probably Spike. Wesley just sat next to Giles and closed his eyes, concentrating on making sure Giles was a good boy.

By the time they arrived at the witches' coven, Wesley was a nervous wreck. His hands were shaking, he looked deathly pale, and needed to sleep major big time.

The women took Giles off their hands as soon as they drove onto the estate. Those gates won't hold him, she thought. Until she figured out that they were enchanted. Spike had to go and touch them accidentally. His hand looked a little burned, but it would heal quickly.

Faith thought that Spike was more worried about Red than he was about Giles. No love lost there between the two of them, since Giles had wanted to have him dusted just to get Buffy back in the game against the First.

"Hey, you need a bed and quick," she whispered to Wesley as a guard led them inside.

"I certainly . . . ," Wesley started.

"Do. Hello, Mr. Pryce. I trust your trip was uneventful."

The woman that stood before them almost made Faith run screaming. She kind of looked like that character in "Harry Potter", McDougal, or McDonall, or something like that. Tall, formidable, bird-like nose jutting out. The grey-curling hair and the haughty expression rounded out the package. Oh, and the glowing hand at her side.

"Yes. I was able to keep the binding spell up."

Wesley leaned against her a little more. Since he was a head taller than she was, she hoped that he didn't accidentally tip her over when she wasn't paying attention.

"I don't wanna go in," Faith could hear Willow say from the door.

"If you will excuse me. I'm quite sorry the introductions are short. I'm Gertrude. If you need anything whatsoever, please ring. Marilyn can show you to your rooms and get you settled."

She really thought she heard a little snort come from Wesley, but she wasn't sure. He would never be that rude, would he? Of course, running on little sleep, virtually no food, and Giles throwing up magicks at him must have made him a little loopy.

Gertrude left to tend to Willow while Faith, Angel and Wesley stood there in front of Marilyn. A little mouse of a girl, probably no older than Faith, she thought.

"If you'll come this way, I'll get you settled. We've never had a vampire stay here. At least on purpose. I hear that you've had your soul for quite some time, Mr. Angel," Marilyn boldly asked him.

"Yeah, for a while."

"Am I gonna have to carry you?" Faith whispered to Wesley as they made their way up the stairs.

"You're too short," he quipped back.

"Don't tempt me, watcher. I can still spank you down anytime."

They stopped at the top of the stairs. "If you'll follow me this way, we put you in a room so the sun will not hit directly, for Mr. Angel's benefit."

"It's just Angel," he repeated for her.

"I would like to see you try it."

He may be tired, she thought, but he still got her little jokes. From the twinkle in his eyes, he really got her joke.

"I definitely know that I can hold you down and have my way with you."

"If wishes were horses."

"Dumb saying," Faith retorted back.

Wesley brushed his hand against the small of her back, sending shivers everywhere and there wasn't even skin-to-skin contact.

Marilyn stopped in front of an inner door, and directed Angel that was his room. She did the same for her and Wes, but on the opposite side of the hall. Angel arched his eyebrow Faith's way, for which she answered with her hands on her hips in challenge.

"There is food in your rooms. Mr. Angel, I have taken the liberty of acquiring some pig's blood for you."

"Thank you. And it's just Angel. No mister."

"Please relax while we get Willow and Mr. Giles settled."

"What will you do with them?" Wesley asked.

"We have ways of helping them both. As we do you, also, Mr. Pryce."

Faith grabbed his hand that he had tucked behind his back and squeezed.

"I am not the danger," Wesley pointed out.

"At the moment. Please, rest. Someone will be back for you in an hour."

Faith waved at the woman as she walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

"Well, that went great. She thinks we're all crazy or somethin'," Faith ground out.

"She's not sure of us. Can't say that I blame her," Wesley told her.

"Me either. You two get some rest." Angel entered his room and shut the door quietly.

"So," Faith started.

"So, we should eat and rest a little."

"Eat first," Faith said, pushing Wesley into one of the rooms, and shutting the door behind her. She grabbed a banana and downed it in no time flat. "Sorry about the big fight. I just, you pushed and I pushed back. Not proud of that. I'll be more careful next time."

"Just because that was the response that I wanted to elicit from you, doesn't mean that I'm not at fault. I thoroughly expected you to be angry with me."

"Nah. Doesn't work that way."

Faith sauntered over to him, pushing him onto the bed.

"Faith, now is not the time," he grinned up at her.

"Just wanted to thank my watcher for fixin' my leg. That wicked hurt. Now it doesn't. Nice to have you around, most of the time."

Faith climbed onto the bed with him, snuggling up against him. Kissing him on the nose, she smiled back at him.

"That's for saving my life, again." Then she kissed him on the cheek. "That's for stopping Giles." She kissed his chin. "That's for being nice to Angel." Finally she kissed him on the mouth, slowly, gently until she had him panting a little. "That's for listening to me."

"I didn't listen to you," he mumbled out, moving over to lie across her chest.

She stroked his hair for a few moments, trying to find another excuse to kiss him. But from the snores that he was now starting to make, he was in dreamland.

"I can't believe this. I am not a fucking pillow. These are not fucking pillows."

She turned to her side so he wasn't putting all his weight directly on her chest. Grumbling a little, he snuggled down into her cleavage and sighed a little in his sleep. As Faith kissed his head softly, she put her arm around him to bring him even closer.

"That's for bein' you. But since you're asleep, you won't hear me bein' a softie."

His hand snaked over to her back and up her shirt, touching her skin. Then he settled down. She thought she heard the word soft come out, but she could have been mistaken.


	4. Plans Mean Nothing

Chapter Four – Plans Mean Nothing

Willow could feel the pressure from all the witches close in on her as she had entered the estate. It threatened to consume her whole. It was the same feeling she had the last time she was here. Giles had brought her to the Wicca stronghold the first time, trying to help her heal. Now she didn't have him to anchor her. He was the last thing she needed as an anchor right at that moment.

"How are you, my dear?" Gertrude asked her as she handed Willow a soothing drink.

"Here. That's about all I can deal with right now," she answered shakily.

Gertrude frowned at her a little, standing still directly in front of her. Willow squirmed in her chair, like she was going to be tested and be found wanting.

"Eyes aren't black. I'd say that was progress," Spike chimed in.

Spike hadn't left her side the whole time. It kind of weirded her out a little, but he seemed genuine.

"Yes, William, I'd say that was progress. Although your reluctance at entering was a bit surprising."

The air was crushing her lungs, but she wouldn't confess to that. Breathing deeply, Willow closed her eyes and concentrated on just making it through the next minute, even the next second.

"If you would like me to help you, I can do that. Your distress is apparent, Willow."

"Yeah, well, Rupert tried to let loose on her. That would distress anyone. You gonna do some kind of exorcism on the man?"

Gertrude shot an annoying glare Spike's way, but didn't say anything else.

"I just need time," Willow squeaked out.

"Indeed you do. But if something doesn't happen shortly, I'm afraid we will have to put you . . . ," Gertrude explained.

"No, no. Do whatever. I don't wanna go there."

"What's going on?" Spike inquired.

He got up to put himself between the witch and Willow. Willow wanted to tell him that it was necessary. Or he wouldn't be able to defend her even if he wanted to, since Gertrude was very powerful.

"Spike, it's OK. She's just trying to help," Willow told him, starting to pant a little.

"You feel the pull. The dark trying to pull you in. Relax, Willow. We are here to help you."

Gertrude's sing-song voice did calm her a little. The pressure of Spike's hand on her shoulder helped a little too. The door opened to reveal five more witches, one carrying supplies.

"I'm so sorry," Willow cried.

"Not your fault," Spike whispered in her ear. "Damn Ethan Rayne. We'll catch him, little one. Don't you worry. Just let them help you."

"Don't leave," Willow said to him as he released her shoulder.

"He can stay, if that's what you would like," Gertrude answered as she readied the spell to ward off the darkness trying to envelope her. "He just might help ground you now that Mr. Giles is not able to."

She felt Spike's reassuring grip back on her shoulder, making her breathe a little better.

"Just get it over with," Willow spoke out loud, voice becoming a little screechy.

The witches circled around her, chanting a spell to help her release the demon that plagued her, that Ethan had somehow reawakened in her. At one point, it felt like her heart had stopped beating, it constricted so severely. Then it all came rushing back, lifting the weight off of her, making her feel free again. She'd been crying through the whole thing, tears falling fast and furiously, making the front of her clothes damp.

When she finally was able to open her eyes, only Spike and Gertrude remained. The ritual had been scary the first time around, but this time, it was even more so. The darkness that had engulfed Giles was there on the periphery, fighting with her darkness. Wesley's added to the mix, making it even harder for her to get rid of the evil, the dark side of her magicks. But the spell lifted it from her heart, making her feel a little lightheaded. Spike was holding her up in the chair. She suspected so she wouldn't slide out of it, boneless person she was at the moment.

"You are cleansed, Willow. But there is much to go over yet again."

"I know. Thanks for that," Willow winced, feeling like her chest had been pummeled by Buffy.

"She's OK, then? No more evil beasties?"

Gertrude laughed a little at Spike's assessment. "Those evil beasties are still present, William. She will just have better control over them for the time being. There is some extensive training that she needs to go through."

Willow remembered what that extensive training had entailed the last time she had been there. It had been hard, it had made her face some facts about herself that she hadn't even realized had been a problem. Obviously, it hadn't held as well as she would have liked. But Spike was right. At least her eyes weren't black.

"You have a greater ability to keep the dark forces at bay. You have grown in your abilities, Willow. For that, I am very proud. But the fact of the matter is you were reeking of dark magicks when you walked in the door."

Willow looked everywhere but at Gertrude. She had let the older woman down; she had let Giles down.

"I know. Can you make it better?" she asked the wiser wicca.

"No, child. You have to make it better. I cannot do that for you. I can only give you the tools to do it yourself."

"Self-help malarkey," Spike mumbled to himself.

\------------------------------------------------------------

"What makes you think you deserve him?" Lilah spat at her.

What? Faith wanted to yell at the woman. Who was she to talk? And why was Lilah of all people invading her dreams? If she could, she'd bitch-slap her into oblivion for how she treated Wes.

"I'm here for him. That's why I deserve him. Something you couldn't seem to manage."

"You think for one second that if Ms. Texan Twang was alive, you'd be anywhere near his bed? It was always about Winifred. She's his muse, the love of his life, his reason for living. Don't you see that?"

Faith pondered what Lilah was telling her. Sure, Fred had been important to Wesley. He had even told Faith that. Would Faith ever be those things to him? Would she ever want to be those things to any man or person? Faith was never into that pedestal thing, a man worshipping her. She always in her dreams wanted someone who was her equal.

"Dead, Lilah. Fred's dead. Gone. Not coming back. I'm here."

"Second best. Oh, sorry to tell you. Third best."

Faith laughed at that. So there was someone else she put ahead of Faith. Like herself.

"So what? Did he ever tell you he loved you? Don't think so. You couldn't hold onto him. I can."

Lilah sat down on the bed with them, stroking her hand over the quilt that Wesley had snuggled under with her when the air in the room had turned chilly.

"Oh dear me," Lilah said in mock horror. "You really think for one moment that you'll be able to hold onto him. Sorry to tell you, not gonna happen in this lifetime. Why do you think he hasn't touched you?"

He's touched her, Faith thought. Just not enough. And why the hell did Lilah care?

"Get the fuck out of my dream, Lilah. Not wanting your help."

Lilah smiled back at her, licking her lips as she arose from the bed. "You'll never know how good he is."

"Bitch," Faith shouted back at her, only to awaken with a shiver.

The dream she had just had was too fucking real. Kind of like those dreams she had of Wesley right after he had died. Was someone trying to tell her something or was her imagination just working overtime? She certainly wasn't going to do battle with a freakin' ghost in her dreams.

"Cold," Wesley mumbled as he snuggled deeper into the blanket.

Faith's hands and feet were now freezing. The dream had affected her more than she thought. So she put the hands on Wesley's back and pushed her feet between his.

"Oh, good Lord, woman," he hissed.

"Sorry. I'm just cold."

"Weren't you under the blanket?" he asked as he took her hands and started to rub some warmth into them.

"Ah, yeah. I think I was. Just had a weird dream, so I must have flung the covers off."

Faith could feel the warmth seep back into her hands and feet quickly. Wesley sure was a great heater, especially a hot, sleepy Wesley. She almost moaned as he blew more warmth into her hands.

"Nightmare?" he quietly asked.

"Sort of. No big deal. Should we get up?"

Wesley took her now warmed up hands and started kissing each finger gently. Faith shivered, but not from being cold. Rolling over, he landed on top of her, pressing his long body into hers. Now she was freakin' hot, every last inch of her.

Framing her face with his hands, he slowly lowered his head to hers, gingerly placing light kisses all over her face. The gentleness of his ministrations almost undid her. Here he was being all nice and careful with her. She didn't deserve him being this way. As a matter of fact, she didn't deserve him at all. That fucking dream was really messing with her mind now.

Sensing her change in attitude, Wesley looked down at her in question.

"I should, um, get up, since it's dark now. We should find the others," Faith barely got out without crying.

"Faith? What did I do?" he asked as he sat up on the bed.

"Nothing. Don't stress. I'm just wired is all."

Faith sat up and crossed her legs underneath her. Looking down, she twisted her hands, trying to figure out the words to tell him how she felt. Lilah got to her. The bitch had gotten into her head and messed around with it. This wasn't Faith and her insecurities. It was Lilah trying to head her off of having anything decent with Wesley.

"That fucking bitch. She's messin' with me," Faith finally said out loud.

Wesley cocked his eyebrow at her, not understanding a bit of what she was talking about. Faith reached over and grabbed his shirt, pulling him to her roughly.

"Not listenin' to her," Faith muttered before attacking Wesley's mouth with her own.

No one got the better of Faith, even in a dream. Lilah could go to hell and back for all she cared. She wasn't giving up that easily.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shit," Lilah barked out, watching Faith almost devour Wesley with just a kiss.

Wesley had always been so controlled around her, taking his passion with Lilah, but that was about it. He was mostly closed off to her, only a few times actually opening up. But as she watched him run his hands through his Slayer's hair, she could tell there was something different about him. He cared for the bitch.

"Payback's a bitch, now isn't it?" Cordelia said from the doorway, snapping her fingers to make the scene disappear.

"What do you want?" Lilah sneered back.

"Uh, uh. You need to watch your attitude, Lilah. Meddling is not why you are here. You're supposed to help Faith, not ruin it for her."

"I was trying to help her. He'll use her and throw her away the first chance he gets. That's what he does. The first virtuous woman that walks his way, Faith's dirt."

Cordelia started to laugh, at her. The laugh was a full-bellied, no holds barred kind of laugh. "I don't believe this. You're still hung up on him?"

"Are you still hung up on him?"

Cordelia just smiled back. Two could play that game. "He's one of my best friends and I love him."

"Must smart that the Texan and psycho slayer got to him and you didn't?"

That's right, Lilah thought. I'll push her buttons and maybe she'll reveal the real facts of why she brought Lilah there.

"Wesley and I had an understanding. Fred loved him. I do think that Faith can love him, given time."

"Not talking about what they feel. I'm talking about you."

Lilah crossed her arms over her chest, like Cordelia was on the witness stand. Lilah wanted to chop her up into little pieces and feed her to the wolves.

"I know what I'm feeling right now. I'm feeling that a contract I have in my possession just might get reinstated."

Cordelia smirked her way. Higher beings had a way of using their power over you. The Senior Partners had tried that trick several times, not always winning against Lilah.

"Not fighting fair, Cordelia," Lilah drawled. "Just your style. I wonder what Angel would think of all your meddling. Probably wouldn't be pleased. As he wouldn't be pleased about your meddling with Wes. Hmm. I wonder what would make him angrier. The fact that you knew about all that was going to happen to Connor, or the fact that Wes really did mean more to you than he did?"

Cordelia just smiled right back. Control, Lilah concluded, had never been the woman's strong suit. This woman was different. Cool, calm and in control Cordelia would be a formidable opponent.

"I don't quantify my relationships like a child, Lilah. Remember that. You mess with Faith like that again, I'll not be so forgiving."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred wanted to cry, scream, punch something, kick something, anything. But she stood, calm and collected while she did her job. Her stinking job. Spike was OK, for once in his life. He was taking care of Willow, which made Fred a little happier. Willow deserved someone to take care of her, someone who understood her. Spike would understand the evilness that built up in a person.

What Fred didn't understand was Cordelia. Had she ever understood Cordelia? Probably not, she mused. The woman was never that forthcoming with her feelings. The biggest thing she couldn't understand was the way Cordelia had pushed Wesley away after the Connor incident. She always thought that Wesley and Angel meant more to her than anything. And Connor had come between them all.

Fred watched as Spike literally doted on Willow, bringing her drinks and food, tucking her into bed, sitting by her side as she slept. Spike had flitted around Willow like she was some kind of goddess or something. Kind of like Wesley had done for her.

Fred didn't want to think about Wesley. She just wanted to put him out of her mind. He was always that thing that needed to be solved, put into an equation, because Fred knew of no other way of figuring him out. One moment, she was his world. The next moment, the books, the research, the jobtook over.

Fred knew it was entirely her fault. She hadn't given him much choice in the matter. Gunn had come first in her life at one point. When she finally had her eyes opened, her fogged memory eyes that knew nothing of Wesley and his deceptions, something clicked in her brain. This man liked her. He was good and patient and kind and loyal. Only she was seeing him through rose-colored glasses. He was also a stubborn, pigheaded, shortsighted jerk. Or something like that in her head. And well, he wasn't always good, hence the bitch in the cottage, wasn't always patient because hey, Gunn and Wesley how they had treated each other sometimes, not kind, and not loyal, i.e., taking Connor without telling anyone what was going on.

Fred had forgotten all those things because of one simple spell that Angel had agreed to, to save Connor from certain death. Or what he called certain death. Leave it to Angel to call the shots and not ask anyone his or her opinions.

Fred thought it might be better if she wasn't involved with the gang anymore. If she asked Cordelia for another assignment, she bet the woman would give her a different one.

She faded back to the field, breathing in the fresh, clean air. Slowly sinking down onto her knees, she leaned back to look into the clouds, hoping to find all the answers there. But they were just clouds. Big, fluffy, white clouds, the kind she used to enjoy in Texas on a breathtakingly blue summer's day.

"I've been looking for you," Lindsey called out.

Fred took a deep breath, trying to let all the tension out of her body. Too bad whoever designed this system didn't think about their comforts. Sure, they didn't need to eat to survive, but all the aches and pains when they were human still existed.

"Doing my job," Fred mumbled out.

"I see. I have a new assignment, so I need to get going." Lindsey turned to walk away.

"Wait, Lindsey. Can I ask you something?" Fred blurted out, not wanting him to leave just yet.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back around.

"Do you like me?"

"What? Oh, yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"Are you gonna put me on some pedestal, make me into some kind of perfect woman kind of thing?"

Lindsey's eyes opened wide. "No, I wasn't thinkin' about it. Been there, done that. Doesn't seem to work really well."

"Oh. OK. That's what I wanted to know."

His answer didn't exactly satisfy her, but he was being honest. Coming down on his knees in front of her, he took her hands in his.

"You wanna tell me what's going on? Did Lilah say something to you?"

"Nope. That bitch can rot in hell for all I care. Just thinkin'."

"Fred, you're not some damsel in distress, but a woman capable of damn near everything. You're smart and funny. I like spending time with you. Is that so bad?"

Lindsey was a lot like Gunn, Fred concluded. Not too high maintenance. He was smart. He actually listened to her. The loyalty issue still hadn't been solved completely though.

"Thanks. I needed that," Fred smiled up at him.

Lindsey pushed a curl back from her face, grinning back at her. Even though they were almost the same height, he was so much bigger than she was, so when he moved in closer to her, Fred shivered a little. His lips lightly touched hers, slowly, agonizingly applying more pressure, until she was gasping for air.

"Thanks. I needed that," Lindsey whispered against her lips, descending to leave her breathless again.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wesley couldn't breathe. Faith had grabbed him and had crushed her full lips against his and wouldn't let go. Like if she wasn't attached to him in every way, she would die. Finally, he was able to break the contact and transfer his mouth to the wildly beating pulse of her neck.

"Now," she growled, panting as his hand found her front.

But before they could progress any further, a knock sounded at the door.

"Don't stop," Faith whispered in his ear, sending sparks down his spine.

Gathering his wits about him, he placed his forehead on Faith's and took a couple of deep breaths. Her squirming against him wasn't making it any easier to calm himself. When her hands started to roam, he finally grabbed them and pinned them behind her back. The contact of her breasts full on made his head a little dizzy.

"We have work to do," he gasped out as she moved her leg a little more to the right.

And he thought that removing her hands from the equation would halt her amorous gropings.

"I don't think this'll take long," Faith purred as she bit down on the side of his neck.

It was oh, so tempting to take Faith up on her offer. Since she hadn't been out slaying, he was sure there was some built up energy just wanting to be released.

"Hey, get your bleeding arses up," Spike called from the hall.

Damn it, he'd been the one knocking on the door. Wesley wanted to just ignore Spike. But Faith's bump and grind against his body was distracting him from any semblance of a normal thought. Her tongue snaked up to his ear.

"Wes, touch me," Faith whispered in his ear.

He groaned back in response, so caught up in how her body felt against his. Releasing her arms, he crushed her body to his, bringing her mouth up to his. Faith responded by thrusting her tongue into his mouth.

The pounding at the door became quite annoying. Wesley wrenched his mouth from Faith, earning him a groan. She then latched onto his neck, making his breathing quite difficult.

"Go away Spike," Wesley yelled at the door.

"Can't. Watcher's gone around the bend. If the two of you don't get out here, the witches are gonna toast him."

"Shit," Faith spat out, taking deep breaths.

"Of all the bloody times for Rupert to lose it," Wesley ground out, yanking Faith off the bed behind him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel had rested. He was more than rested. As he sat in the room that the Wiccas had given him, he twiddled his thumbs together as he waited for the sun to go down. No use wandering around the estate in the daylight, when he didn't know exactly what he would encounter.

"Please tell me I'm not a bad person?" Cordelia said from behind him.

Angel wasn't sleeping. He knew he'd been wide awake for quite some time now. But there she was, directly in front of him.

"You're here? I don't understand."

"Of course, you don't understand," Cordelia started on her rampage. "You never understand, until I have to spell it out for you. Then you go off all half-cocked, and almost get yourself killed, I mean dusted. Then I have to pick up the pieces. I can't pick up the pieces this time. It's too hard. I am sick and tired of being in the middle of things. No more. I'm not in the middle any more. Do you here that, buster? No more middle-gal."

Angel gazed back at Cordelia, not following one bit what she was saying. He just hoped she wasn't trying to tell him something important.

"Something happen? I mean, you're here. You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

"You know what, I've had it with the PTBs. Playin' around, messin' with my people. From now on, I'm the boss around here. What I say, goes. And if they don't like it, well then tough."

"OK. Cordy, what are you the boss of?"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is I'm in charge. They can't accept me, well, then fine. But I'm doin' my job. We are so gonna have words when I go to the next staff meeting."

"They have staff meetings?"

He was thoroughly confused now.

"Well, of course. How do you think the Powers get anything done? Me and a couple of other yahoos. That's how. Well, the buck stops here now. That's it. Final."

Cordelia swept her hands through the air like she meant business.

"Cordelia, are you a Power?" Angel asked her.

"Well, duh?"

That usually meant yes in Cordy-speak. So she had been rewarded for all that she had gone through when she was a human with those head-splitting visions.

"That's great, but why are you here? I thought . . . ," he started to ask.

"That I could appear to you only in your dreams? Nah. I just liked doing that to mess with you. And besides, it made things much simpler. You're so much calmer when you're asleep."

He's calmer when he's asleep? What was Cordy like when she was asleep? This was definitely not her day for a calm one.

"So why are you here?" he asked yet again.

"Um, just to rant. Why else? Everyone is mad at me. Me. I did not do anything. They all are mad at me. Doyle won't talk to me because he thinks that I'm in love with Wesley and not him."

Angel's eyes opened wide with that one.

"Can you believe I have to, of all people, deal with Lilah now?"

Was Cordy in a hell dimension?

"Oh, God, don't let me get started about Lindsey."

She must be in a hell dimension.

"And then there's Fred to deal with. She yelled at me," Cordelia cried out.

"Fred?" Angel managed to get out. "Can't be."

"Yep. Can be."

Angel couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maybe this was all a hallucination. He was hearing all that he wanted to hear. Well, except for the Lindsey and Lilah part.

"God, are you deficient? That doctor guy, not the most trustworthy. Should have let Wes have a go at him. Although, way too messy with the blood and all. You really need to make sure you lock up the handheld weapons around him. His finger's a little trigger happy."

"Tell me," Angel impatiently asked.

"When Illyria, that blue whatever she was, died, Fred was released. I've got her, Angel. I'll take care of her."

If Angel could breathe a sigh of relief, he would. If Fred couldn't be alive and with him, then the best place for her would be with Cordelia, in heaven.

"Oh, don't think she's in heaven. Because, she's so not the Pollyanna we all thought she was. That girl can get wicked mean when she wants. Talking about wicked, where's Faith?"

When Cordelia was alive, most of the time Angel would have a hard time following her train of thought. Now, so much harder.

"I assume she's resting. Maybe with Wes?"

"Oh, geez. Who would have thunk that pair?"

"Oh, they're not, you know."

Cordelia sat down on the bed with him. He could tell that she wasn't corporeal. Light seemed to pass right through her. He really wanted to reach out and touch her right then. Just so he could think that everything that she was telling him was real.

"How old are you? You just didn't fall off the turnip truck."

Angel snickered a little. Yes, he did know something about attraction. He did know that Faith and Wes had been dancing around each other for months. Was that a good thing? All that emotion bottled up inside?

"Doyle thought you loved Wes better than him?"

Cordelia shook her head back and forth, like he didn't get it, yet again.

"Yep. Stupid Irishman. I love Wes. I love you. I love Doyle. Hell, I even love Gunn, when he's not annoying the bejesus out of me."

"Not what I asked," Angel told her, serious tone to his voice.

"He, I. OK, you know what. I feel guilty that I wasn't there for him. Like we were for each other in the beginning. I abandoned him, flat out abandoned him. Mind you, wasn't my choice. He means the world to me."

Angel could see the tears building up in Cordelia's eyes. She almost never cried. She was always the tough one. So whatever this meant, it meant a lot to her.

"So, sure. I love him. If things had been different, maybe things would be different. Kind of like with us."

If Angel could feel pain in his heart, he would right then. If things were different? He wouldn't be talking to Cordelia, fledging Power that Be. She'd be right there by his side, corporeally speaking.

"I'm glad you were honest about it."

"So, how do we get him and Faith together? The both of them sure do need to have some hot, groiny sex."

Angel snorted a little. Then he smiled at Cordelia. Then all of a sudden, a bellow of a laugh came out, making his insides hurt, he laughed so hard.

"What?" Cordelia laughed right along with him. "The hot sex remark?"

"No, it's just the way you said it. Like it was your job or something."

"Oh, not my job. It's Lilah's job to keep an eye on Faith."

Angel lost his laugh, face turning sullen. That was not what he wanted to hear.

"Excuse me? You're gonna let Lilah loose on Faith?"

"Nope. Actually the other way around. Faith's gonna run her ragged. Should be fun. And Lilah gets to watch as Faith actually catches Wesley."

"She's not gonna watch, you know, that?" Angel asked, emphasizing the last word.

"There you go again. You are not a prude. Oh, wait. Yes you are."

Angel threw her a sarcastic scowl and bent over to touch his forehead to his hands.

"When'd it all start getting so . . . ," Angel started to ask Cordelia.

"Screwed? Hmm. The first day we met. That must be it," she replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"So Ms. Cordelia I'm a Power that Be Chase, how are you going to fix all of this?" he wanted to know from her.

"I have a plan."

"You don't make plans. Wes makes the plans. You just question the hell out of the plan. You don't make the plans."

"I do so. Just you wait." Cordelia sat beside and didn't move.

"I'm waiting."


	5. Good Times, Bad Times

Chapter Five – Good Times, Bad Times

"You have no confidence in me?" Cordelia cried out.

Angel snorted, and then turned away from her. Away. From her. In her time of need. In her time of neediness, she corrected herself. She wanted his stamp of approval. Damn it, she thought. Now she was acting like Wes.

"I don't want things to go wrong," she spoke up.

"Again?" he questioned.

"Yeah, again," she agreed quietly.

It would take a lot more than just her meddling in this mess to fix it. Everyone would have to go along with her plan, even the likes of Lilah. Would everyone? If they didn't, whatever or whoever was causing all of these problems would get what they wanted. There would be trouble for all the dimensions if they weren't successful in stopping it.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Wesley wrenched the door open to find Spike pacing up and down the corridor.

"What the hell did Rupert do now?" Wesley growled at the vampire.

"Threatenin' to take the whole place down unless you get your pansy arse down there right this instant."

"No, do not go down there," Gertrude came running up the stairs. "Wesley, you must leave, right this moment. If he were to get you in the same room with Willow, all would be lost."

Wesley wanted to roll his eyes at Gertrude's dramatics, but from her stance, she wasn't playacting.

"Do you know what is happening?"

"I am guessing, mind you. If Mr. Giles were to combine his power with yours and Willow's, the results could be catastrophic. Come this way. I'll show you a place to hide until we can subdue him."

Spike punched the air in defiance. "If you can subdue him, you mean."

"We will. Our combined strengths . . . ," Gertrude started, only to be interrupted by Faith.

"You mean Wes'll go all dark if he comes into contact with Giles?"

"That could possibly happen. He has had no particular training in controlling his baser urges. Willow has."

Spike got right up into Gertrude's face, like he would take her out if she didn't give the right answers.

"So, she's your guinea pig while the watcher gets to flee. He'll hurt her. You know that."

"She's strong. She has control. Don't underestimate her, William. Now, go. The both of you." Gertrude pointed to both Wesley and Faith. "He will sense your maitresse anywhere, putting her in danger. Come. I'll show you the tunnels beneath the estate."

"Safety net?" Wesley questioned as they started to move.

"What's a maitresse? I hope it's not some bad word or something, or some witch is going down."

Wesley chuckled a little. Gertrude was more astute than he had given her credit for. The problem in Wesley's brain right then was once he and Faith became lovers, because it was only a matter of time, where would they go from there? Forever wasn't exactly in either of their vocabularies.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, who this time?" Fred asked as Lindsey prepared to go to his next job.

"Some guy named Rupert Giles."

Fred knew who he was. Granted, she had never formally met the Watcher. Speaking with him on the phone a couple of times didn't give her any clue as to why Lindsey had to intervene in something he did or was going to do.

"What are you going to do?"

"Help stop him."

"You're not going to kill him, are you?"

That worried Fred. That was sometimes the outcome of Lindsey's so-called jobs. Sometimes death was the only answer.

"Not if I have to. Only if necessary."

Fred was glad her job didn't entail killing people. Her job involved watching one messed up vampire.

Lindsey gazed into her eyes before giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Then he proceeded to leave, waving to her as he did.

"Stop," Cordelia yelled as Lindsey started to shimmer.

"Dammit, Cordelia. What?" Lindsey cried out, obviously in anger.

"Meeting now. Everyone. Fred, get Lilah. I'll get the others. This is going to take everyone, including you Lindsey."

Fred didn't like the tone that Cordy was using. It was that no nonsense tone she got when things were bad, very bad.

"I need to get to Rupert Giles before he explodes," Lindsey pointed out to her.

"In time. He's the least of our worries."

"Indeed he is," a male voice said behind her.

Before Fred could turn around, a hand attached to the voice yanked her hard and pulled her through a portal. She could only register the looks of shock on Cordy and Lindsey's face before her world spiraled down, just like it had that day she had entered Pylea for the first time.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow could feel herself shifting between light and dark. She could feel her blood boil one instant. In the next, her veins would run with ice in them. If it all didn't stop, she'd upchuck what little she'd had to drink for sure.

"You can't control yourself, my dear. Can't you see that?" Giles explained to her in a calm voice.

"I can. I can. I can," Willow chanted to herself in a murmur.

Giles didn't know her. He didn't know what she had accomplished in the last year. He had been so busy with the Council, he didn't know all the things that she had learned, all the different people she had met in her travels that added to her experience. The only reason she was having any trouble controlling herself was the fact that it was Giles, not anyone else.

Giles laughed right back. "You really think you can. How about if I do this?"

Giles picked her up through his magicks and slammed her against the ceiling. It was just like she had done to him right before leaving him to die in the Magic Box. She had been out to destroy herself and the world at that point. His broken body hadn't mattered to that Willow one bit.

He made her hover against the ceiling for a few moments before sending her crashing to the floor. Excruciating pain radiated up her arms and torso when she landed. Willow just hoped that she hadn't broken something in the fall.

"If I do that enough, I'm quite sure you'll fight back. Now where on earth is that boy?"

Boy? Willow's brain thought. Who was he talking about? Sure, she hadn't listened to half of his rantings because, hey, concentrating on not taking out England herself. Breathing was even hard because of the pain, but Willow slowly slid up into a kneeling position.

"Who?" she gritted out between waves of pain.

"Pryce, who else? You twit. Now, how can I amuse myself while I wait for him? Oh, I know."

Giles waved his hand again, sending Willow skidding across the floor. The antique table in her way fell over on top of her, stopping her progress. The wall behind her looked quite sturdy and hard.

Reserves, Willow thought. I need to gather my strength. I need to gather my wits. I need to kick his ass so he'll quit slamming me up against the furniture. Concentrating really hard, Willow was able to hit him hard in the gut, sending him down to the floor. His glasses came flying her way, where they embedded into the wall right behind her.

"Now that was not very nice."

"Oh yeah. Why don't you pick on someone your own size for a change?"

Willow looked up from her position behind the broken table to see Buffy, Xander and Clarisse enter the room.

"It's the children," Giles quipped back.

Raising a hand, he flung Clarisse back through the door they had just come in and slammed it with a resounding thud. Willow pitched a chair at him while he was distracted, cracking him on the head, making blood flow freely from his brow.

"Now that's more like it," Giles told her as he wiped the blood from his eyes.

"Giles has finally cracked under the pressure. Never thought I'd see the day," Xander countered, ducking behind a large sofa, attempting to work his way over to Willow.

Buffy ran at full speed, knocking Giles down in a tangle of arms and legs before he sent her flying across the room, crashing right beside Willow.

"It's not Giles, Xander. It's not him," Buffy concluded, picking herself up for more battle. "Willow, ideas?"

"Fresh out, I'm afraid. Wait, I know."

Willow drew up the rest of her waning strength and put a magical band around Giles. He struggled a bit, then went limp as the three gathered at the other end of the room to strategize. He glared straight at them, shooting imaginary daggers from his eyes.

"Whoa. What the hell is going on?" Xander emphatically wanted to know.

"Wrong color eyes. He has brown. That guy right there has brown. Giles has green," Buffy let everyone else know.

"The barrier isn't gonna hold that long. A few minutes at the most."

"Will, now is the time to pull that rabbit out of the proverbial hat," Xander urged her to do.

"I don't have any rabbits. The Wiccas did a spell on me, to rid me of all the nasties. Only it made me weak."

Buffy grabbed her arm. "Well, suck on someone else's power. Wes did it. You can't let him upstage you."

Buffy was right, Willow concluded. Why couldn't she borrow some power to make this right? Only the witches had taught her that it was wrong. Only wrong when you did it without the person's knowledge, Willow realized. That one time Buffy had borrowed all their power to defeat Adam. Why should now be any different? Giles could cause considerable damage if she didn't do something.

"Hands now. I don't have time to explain."

"Just tell me it's gonna work. Giles is getting restless."

Giles was fighting the restraints Willow had put on him. She just wasn't strong enough to have them hold much longer. She could already feel the power she had in reserves draining away. Grabbing both Buffy and Xander's hands, she linked the three of them together. Without Giles, it might not work. But she had to try.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

The corridors beneath the large estate were vast and damp. The crude map that Gertrude had given them seemed to be missing several of the corridors that they had encountered. They could get lost down there for days and not find their way back to the surface.

"Have I told you how much I hate cold, dark, damp places?" Faith whined again.

She knew Wesley was ready to shut her up permanently, but she couldn't help it. The place not only was unpleasant, it made her skin crawl. Like there were creepy crawlies down there that no one had seen in like forever.

"With great intensity. Just think of it as one more adventure."

"Sorry. My next adventure is gonna be on some tropical island with cold drinks and as little clothes as possible."

Wes squeezed her hand really tight. To take her mind off the disgusting slime on the walls, she thought of the sun, wearing an itty-bitty bikini and lying in the heat, soaking up the rays.

"Promise?" Wes retorted.

"What? About the adventure or the clothes remark?"

Wes pulled her faster down the corridors until he stopped to look at the map again.

"OK, we need to go that way," he said to her as he took her hand again.

That was getting old in a fat hurry. He really didn't need to drag her around like a rag doll. She was perfectly capable of following him. Or leading, if need be.

"Hold on a sec. Are you sure?"

"Of course," he replied, looking as sure as himself as he ever was, which wasn't saying much.

"Me you're talking to here. Where the hell are we?"

"I have no clue," he said, throwing his hands up in disgust. "It feels like we've been going in circles for the last fifteen minutes."

Faith hit him on the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me that? Typical guy. Can't ask for directions."

"I'll have you know that my sense of direction is impeccable."

"Yeah, impeccable at getting us lost."

Wesley thrust the map into her hands, then put his hands on his hips. "Go ahead. You find your way out."

Faith had something to prove. She didn't always want to be the muscle. She wanted to contribute something to their partnership, not just punch things. Turning the map, she oriented herself until she sort of figured out where they were.

"This way," she said as she strode forward.

"Are you sure?" he quipped back.

"Deal, watcher. And no hands."

Wesley smiled down at her. "What? I thought that maybe you'd want to drag me around for a while."

"Nope. There's other things I'd like to do to you. Drag you around? Not in my top ten. Now this," Faith said as she pulled him closer.

Why, oh, why did she have to touch him like that again? The last time the sparks were almost too much to bear. It had been so long. So much time since someone had actually touched her and meant it. Not since Robin. Or maybe even before. Maybe even never.

As he crushed his lips to hers, she knew she could never get tired of him kissing her. The man had such a talented mouth. Probably from all that talking and stuff. Made his tongue such a treat. Tangling his hands in her hair, he angled the kiss deeper, while not touching any other part of her body. Could she go off from just a kiss? As his tongue dueled with hers, she thought it just might be possible.

Abruptly he pulled away from her, panting just as loudly as she was. Glad to know she still had it in her.

"We should go," he whispered as he rained tiny kisses all over her face.

"Yeah, we'll get on that. In a minute, when I'm done with you," she managed to get out before pulling him back forcefully, getting that full frontal contact he denied her before.

His long fingers started to squeeze her ass as his mouth worked down to her throat. If he didn't stop, she wouldn't be able to stop. This was so not how she wanted them to do it. Gone was the need to screw in an alley. She wanted days to explore him. It wasn't like they'd have days down in the dungeon-like atmosphere, if it was up to her.

A rumble off in the distance stopped his hands from groping any further.

"Did you hear that?" he said as he released her backside.

Faith's head was swimming quite nicely, so she didn't hear much other than the whooshing of her blood to a few places across her body. Maybe that's what he heard too. It kind of felt like her heart was gonna thump out of her chest at any moment it was beating so fast.

"No. Hearing things?"

The rumble came closer.

"I don't think so," he told her as he grabbed her hand again. "Let's go."

There he went again, dragging her off. The floor became slimier as they trotted down the corridor, until he slipped in it, falling hard to the floor. Only it just wasn't slime now, but a trickle of water.

"You OK?" she asked as she pulled him up off the ground.

"We need to move to higher ground."

"Don't tell me what I think is behind us is really behind us?"

The trickle turned to a rush that started to rise above their ankles. Running as fast as they could, Wesley pulled her into another corridor that looked to be headed upward. It was when they arrived at a large cavern, with what looked to be no way out, that they both realized they had made a wrong turn.

The water was now pouring in, covering their knees. Before long, it would be above their heads. Faith could swim; she just didn't like the dark, murky water. She could lose hold of Wes and never find him again.

"Climb," he commanded, going over to where there looked like some footholds in the rocks.

Boosting her up, he started after her, slipping here and there, just like she did. She finally made it to the top of the cavern, onto a small shelf. Crawling up on it, she moved over until he could fold his long body in beside hers.

"This is so not good," she voiced.

"I agree."

He looked at her, worry etched in his brow. He was scared. She could tell that from his grim expression.

"Plan?"

"I was thinking of blasting a hole in the ceiling."

"Magicks?"

"There's nothing else to use. No way out unless we somehow could swim under water for a good length of time."

As she told herself, no to the dark, murky water below. It didn't seem to be rising as quickly as before. That was probably because they were in the large cavern. Eventually, it would reach them. Or maybe they would just be trapped. Either way, it wasn't good.

"No, Willow, no," Wesley gritted out before he swayed on his perch right beside her.

There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver where they were. The two of them barely fit as it was. So if Wesley fell, she might not be able to stop him. Catching his arm, she pulled him back from the edge, pushing him up against the rocks.

"She took my power," Wesley panted out. "All of it. That stupid girl."

Struggling to sit up, he banged his head on a sharp rock.

"Stop, wait. What did Willow do?"

"She's trying to stop Giles. I can't control it. What makes her think she can? That's why Gertrude sent me away. She cannot combine our powers. It will be deadly."

"Then make her stop," Faith cried.

Wesley grabbed Faith by the shoulders, sending sparks shooting everywhere. The power that surged through her was frightening. It was nothing like the slayer power that she had. It was dark, kind of like that good chocolate, and just as enticing. As she slipped down off the ledge, the only thing she could think of was how alluring the whole thing was. No wonder Willow wanted it all. She just hoped that the water swallowed her up quickly.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

"You can see me," the thing groaned in front of her.

The portal trip was just as scary and sickening as ever. Fred had never missed that feeling, ever. Now where in the world was she. She wasn't corporeal in most realms. But here obviously she was.

The thing in front of her was grotesque. It was twisted, grisly, probably at one time a little human looking, but nonetheless, she wanted to barf up her guts just looking at it. What was it?

"Oh, my dear girl. Is this better?"

The thing reformed itself into a man. Short, middle-aged, English accent. Only she could still make out the thing underneath. She wasn't sure why exactly. It was just there.

"Only barely. What do you want?"

"Oh. Lots of things. First off, you to be obliterated once and for all. It didn't work out the first time, now did it?"

Well, obviously the thing didn't like her. Little, old her. What had she done to it?

"I don't know you," she said as calmly as she could.

"Oh my. But I know you. All of your hopes and fears. All of your dreams and nightmares. Everything. And you want to know why?"

The boogeyman came to mind for some reason. This creature was the thing in the closet, the thing under the bed, the thing that parents scared away in the middle of the night.

"Because I made you what you are."

"Hardly," she retorted back.

Who did he think he was? The pope or something?

"You will release her," commanded another voice behind her.

"The other one. Now I have both. Two parts of the same whole."

Fred swiveled around, to see the figure slowly come out of the shadow. She knew exactly who it was before she saw it. Nothing like coming up against yourself, only not yourself.

"This battle is not hers to fight. She is not a warrior."

The thing in the form of human cackled. Fred could see the saliva drip down as he did.

"She is mine to do with what I please. And if I please to have her people watch her destroyed once and for all, that is what I will do."

Illyria moved out of the shadows fully, flexing her leather-clad muscles as she did. The ice blue in her eyes glowed as she stared down the semi-human.

"No. Not this girl. Not this time."

"I beg to differ," the man replied.

Illyria clutched the man's throat, squeezing. Fred needed to help Illyria take the man down. She just wanted to go back to her dimension. Helping Illyria was not what she wanted to do, but if she had to, she would.

"Hey, no pushing the girl around," Fred called out, shoving the man in the chest.

"I will rip your entrails out and drape them around your neck as I strangle whatever life is left in your feeble body."

Fred really wanted to say eww, but before she could the feeble man changed back into the gross creature thing and flung them both against the wall behind them.

"Now, ladies. Let me show your friends how I will rip the two of your souls to shreds. Shall we?"


	6. Don't Let Go

Chapter Six – Don't Let Go

"Get a move on, you stupid git. Watcher's gone around the bend, yet again."

Spike could be so, well, Spike sometimes, Angel thought. He wasn't making a bit of sense.

"Wesley?"

"What? Are you still snogging him in your sleep? No, not Percy. Giles. He's got Willow downstairs and is gonna wreck the whole place if we don't help."

Magicks. Angel really wished that all the magicks would just disappear. Of course, he wouldn't have a soul. On that count, neither would Spike. At least Spike couldn't lose his if he got too happy. Damn, and he would so love to stake the bastard sometimes, if just on principle alone.

"Not sure what we can do, Spike."

"Get Red the hell out of the way is what," Spike yelled as they raced down the stairs.

As they made it to the foyer, they found at least a dozen of the wiccas planning something. They had too many supplies to not be.

"Can we help?"

"Unless you know magicks, I don't think so," one of them spoke up.

Clarisse rounded a corner, waving her hands frantically at them. "Xander, Buffy. They need help right this instant. Do you understand?"

Angel groaned. Buffy was here? Why didn't anyone tell him anything?

So here he was, ready to do battle against someone he knew, yet again. Angel was getting good and tired of this nonsense. The next time he saw Cordelia, he would give her a piece of his mind. She knew this would happen. Why else was she so cryptic?

Before he could say anything, Spike was off down the corridor that Clarisse had just appeared from. Following behind, he heard several noises, then slams against the other side of the wall. The doors that Spike stopped in front of rattled, but didn't open.

"This it?" he asked the other vampire.

"That's the one. Any plan?"

Angel sighed. Why did everyone look to him for a plan? "Your show."

"Go in and knock Rupert's head against the wall a few times. Should do it."

Angel doubted that physical force would work against an insane magicks user. Spike was liable to get himself slammed up against the wall more than just a few times. But he didn't have any other ideas in mind at the moment.

"Spike, bad plan."

"You got any ideas, Peaches?"

"Not at the moment. OK, go in and knock heads. Just make sure you keep yours attached."

"Sounds like you actually care."

"Sounds like I don't want to explain to anyone that after surviving one of the deadliest fights ever you got your head taken off by some wacko watcher with too much magicks running through his body."

"Still think you care, mate."

"Spike, stuff it. I don't fucking care, alright?"

"On three, then. One, two," Spike started, but instead went before three.

Angel was anticipating the stupid twit would do that. He had done it so many times before, it wasn't even funny now. So diving into the room, he got the lay of the land pretty quickly. Buffy and Xander were facing Giles, while Willow looked to be chanting something under her breath. Instead of being all black and veiny, she was now white-haired and glowing. Giles' arms were flung out to his sides, like he was trying to resist, but couldn't because Willow was just too strong.

"It work?" Xander yelled back to Willow.

"I just so love a party. So sad that I didn't get an invitation," Ethan said from behind Angel.

Before Angel could turn around to clock the man, he was flying across the room, slamming into the opposite wall.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That so should not have just happened. Where'd she go? Fred?" Cordelia called.

Fred had disappeared into some kind of portal. The kind of portal that should not work in this dimension. Besides, they were all dead in the human sense. Something else would have to have been pretty strong and know how the physics of their dimension worked to be able to open up a portal like that.

"Get her back. Now," Lindsey demanded.

"If I could, do you think that I'd be standing here right now?"

She wanted to add you jerk to the end of that sentence, but knew it would only make matters worse. Lindsey did seem to care for Fred. Fred had that kind of personality. She had everyone wrapped around her pinkie in no time.

"Love, you called?" Doyle arrived, out of breath.

"'Bout time."

Cordelia did not want to start a fight with Doyle again. She needed him, in more ways than one. He would keep her grounded, keep her brain from going into overload.

"Something just ripped Fred out of here," Lindsey added.

"Not possible," Doyle answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It happened. Get her back," Lindsey demanded yet again.

"Gather everyone. I mean everyone. Don't spare anyone. If someone could break into here and swipe someone right out from under my nose, then they could possibly take over the whole dimension."

"So? We just help people. Why would that make a difference?"

"They could get access to the Powers, you git. We are the link. We go down, then all humankind could be next. And any good demon too."

"Oh," was all Lindsey could say.

Doyle had made his point, a little too clearly. Cordelia usually didn't like telling the newbies what they were exactly, especially someone like Lindsey, who was still working for redemption.

"Mr. Doyle, you raised the alarm?" a beautiful girl with long, flowing hair said as she opened the door.

"Yes, yes. Tara, my dear. There's trouble. Did you bring," Doyle had started to say, only to be shut up by the next woman charging into the room.

"This better be good. I was helping that shopkeeper man makes oodles of cash. The profits were going to be huge."

"Anya, focus," Doyle implored.

Great, Cordelia thought. Just what she needed. A slightly scared Tara, a money-meddling Anya, a redeeming weasel Lindsey, a half-demon, sort of mad at her Doyle. She so wished that Fred or even Wesley was there to help. At least they could maybe come up with a plan.

"Yeah," Lilah's voice added to the chaos. "This better be good. I gave up my manicure for this."

Cordelia sighed in resignation. She hoped, no she prayed that others would show up to help. But at least all of these former people knew the players involved. A lot less explainage to do.

"It seems that our earthly friends have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble," Cordelia informed the group.

"See. Told you that Xander would be better off with me guarding him. I mean, me being his guardian angel."

"I don't think that's how it works, Anya," Tara pointed out quietly.

"Well, then I should have gotten Wes, not some bitch slayer," Lilah chimed in.

"Ha. Don't think that Cordy would give up that one, I tell ya," Doyle angrily added.

"Oh, crap. Will all of you just shut up for a minute? Someone just swiped Fred right out from under us. And Lilah, so help me, if you say a word, I will bitch slap you into next Tuesday."

Lilah smirked, but didn't add anything to the conversation. The door opening again brought everyone's attention.

"Sorry that I'm late. It's just these guys don't know when to quit and I mean that in a negative way."

"Jenny, good. A voice of reason. We need your help."

"Glad to be here. Now what's up?"

"We, I think. Oh hell. I'll just come out and say it. Someone opened up a portal to this dimension, taking Fred. No one, and I mean no one knows how to do this, other than me and a few others. None of you know how. Yes, we know how to project ourselves down to our charges, but not all of our essence goes down. Fred's just gone. All of her. Which means one thing. Either one of the Powers is in cahoots with the bad guys, or something has figured out how to break into our dimension. And if they can break into our dimension, then they can get to the Powers That Be and destroy all of them. We can't let that happen."

"Nice speech, Cordelia. Why should it concern us?" Lilah asked.

"Because the Powers go down, we all go down. All humans cease to exist in short order, and lots of nice demons too. Entire dimensions could crumble."

"You mean evil would win?" Tara pointedly asked.

"Exactly. Not a pretty sight," Doyle finished for her.

"What makes you think any of us could make a difference? Since some of here weren't exactly very nice when we were alive," Anya piped up.

"Hey, speak for yourself there missy," Doyle told her.

"Oh, Mr. Gambling Debt, I'm So Not an Alcoholic Guy. Don't even talk," she charged back.

"I don't think that this is helping," Tara quietly told the group.

"Oh, you forgot the I'm a Half-Demon and I Don't Want Anyone to Know it Guy," Lilah gleefully told everyone.

"Evil incarnate," Lindsey mumbled Lilah's way.

"You have an evil hand," Lilah shot back.

"Better than having an evil . . . ," he started to answer back.

"Stop it, stop it. All of you. I really don't care what any of you did or didn't do. We all had our faults."

"Not like you didn't have your faults, Ms. I Tried to Destroy the World with Peace and Kindness," Lindsey looked at Cordelia with a sneer.

"That so totally wasn't me. Just my evil offspring. That took over my body. You stupid jerk."

"I am so glad that I missed most of this. Although, hey, I had to die to miss it all," Jenny chimed in.

"Are we done? I need to go kill Rupert Giles," Lindsey said.

"What? No you won't. You won't touch a hair on his head," Jenny yelled at Lindsey.

"He's evil."

"No, Lindsey. He's not evil. Jury's still out on you. You will not kill him. Got it. We need him. Looks like Willow's having some success slapping him down," Cordelia told them all, turning on the large television set behind them.

"It's been so long," Tara said lovingly looking at the screen.

"Oh, Xander looks just as manly as before," Anya pointed out.

"Why do I think those two are gonna screw things up?" Doyle muttered to Cordelia as they watched Angel and Spike enter the room.

"Cause they're gonna distract Willow, making Giles break whatever bonds she just successfully put on him. Where's Wesley?"

"Great. He's all you can talk about?" Doyle responded.

"No. It would just be nice to have all the players in one room."

"Uh oh. Looks like the lovebirds have gotten themselves into some trouble," Lilah gloated.

"Switch it to Wesley and Faith, now."

Doyle complied with Cordelia's request immediately. What she saw was so not good. If something didn't happen soon, they would both drown.

"Looks like I might be out of a job," Lilah quipped.

"Not likely. We have to break Willow's hold on Giles. She's taken all of Wesley's power. If I knew they could share power, I would have never," Cordelia went on.

"Never what? What did you do, Cordelia?" Doyle asked.

"Well, see, I just thought that since Wesley was alive again, that he could keep all that power he gained from Vail. I never thought it was fair that Angel and I had these things we could do. And I thought that Wes could handle it."

"You changed him? After he got sucked back down?" Anya questioned.

"Sounds familiar," Tara added.

"Ok, this isn't getting us anywhere. So we need to stop Giles, we need to rescue this Wesley guy and that Faith girl and find your friend Fred. So why are we sitting here watching?" Jenny inquired.

That got Cordelia's mind working finally. Not that she hadn't created a lot that had just happened. And here she thought she was doing a good deed. Another inquiry in line for her when this was over.

"You're right. Lindsey, take Tara and Anya and stop Giles. Do not kill him. Just somehow get that black magicks out of him. Two, Jenny, help Lilah get Wes and Faith out of that mess. Doyle and I will try to find Fred. Now let's move people."

They all stood around, looking at Cordelia like she had lost it. "What are you all waiting for?"

"Be nice if you said please?" Anya asked.

"Go. Now," Cordelia shouted.

The only reaction Cordelia could see was one of disdain, except from Doyle, who was smirking.

"You have a way with people, darlin'."

"Doyle. So not in the mood. We need to trace that portal."

"What I wouldn't do for that watcher's brain right now."

The rest had disappeared to do their jobs.

"It's just us chickens. We have to get Fred back. The thing that grabbed her. I'm scared that it'll…."

"I know. This time her soul just might be gone. Not gonna happen, sweetheart. Not to that sweet girl."

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Squeeze, Illyria," Fred shouted.

Fred was trying desperately to do something to help Illyria take the creature down in front of them.

"I am not sure how you broke through the dimensional barriers, but when I do, I will destroy your dimension completely."

"OK, enough on the dimension destroying Illyria, we need to just kill this thing."

Fred heard a crack as the creature got the upper hand on Illyria, twisting her wrist around viciously.

"If I tear the creature's head from its body, it will cease to exist."

"Killing me didn't work the last time, now did it my dear."

Fred looked around the cave-like room, trying to find something to fight the creature before them. Picking up a heavy rock, she slammed it into the thing's skull. Some kind of fluid escaped, but it still didn't go down. It finally wrenched Illyria's injured wrist away from its throat, sending her flying yet again. Fred managed to get another slam in again before the same thing was done to her. Her body must have more bruises than she'd ever had fighting with Angel Investigations.

"You are not fit to fight with the god-king Illyria. You swine. I will see to it that you are pulled apart piece by piece until all that is left is your eyeballs, which I will crush under the weight of my wrath."

"OK, gross visual. On three. One, two," Fred started.

Illyria pounced before three. Her leather suit was torn in places, revealing blue skin underneath. Fred never had even a miniscule portion of that kind of strength when she was alive. Now to watch her sort of body do the things that Illyria was doing was kind of crazy, but a little satisfying.

The thing pushed Illyria back against the rocks, now trying to choke her. Fred picked up another, even sharper piece of rock and went forward. She punched out with it, striking the thing in the back at least a dozen times before it dropped Illyria and whirled on her.

"You puny, pathetic human being. Even in death, you stink of humanity. Why didn't you stay dead?"

"Hey, I'm certainly feeling quite dead right now, buster."

"Your soul, Winifred. If your soul was truly gone, then he could regain his power. Instead, he gets his minions to do his dirty work."

Illyria took her hands to the stunned creature's neck and twisted, resulting in a sickening crack. The creature fell to the ground with a thud.

"You did it," Fred cheered.

"For the moment," Illyria answered. "He is not dead, yet. We must flee before he regenerates."

"Yeah, and you'll tell me what you know," Fred said as she headed down the corridor, to get as far away from that creature as possible.

"I will tell you what I know. But you must promise me."

"Uh, I don't think I'm gonna be makin' you any promises anytime soon."

Fred stopped at a juncture in the corridors. She turned to see Illyria looking at her, literally staring a hole through her.

"If you do not, all will be lost. You must understand the ramifications. If we are to save..."

"Listen, whatever you are, you're not exactly on my friends list right now. What makes you think I'm gonna do anything for you?"

"Because if you do not, Wesley will die. This time, permanently. His soul will be obliterated along with yours, mine and several others. You must do as I ask."

Fred reached out and slapped Illyria. The sound reverberated off the rock walls, making the slap sound harder than it was.

"And I'm asking again, why should I believe you?"

"If you love him, as you love Angel and the others, you will believe me."

Fred didn't want to back down this time. She wanted this creature with her face in front of her to believe that she wasn't some damsel in distress, that she could indeed make her own decisions, find her own way out of this mess.

"What do you know? You helped destroy him. Don't think I don't know. I saw it all. Saw what you did to Wesley."

"If I knew then what I know now human, I would not have treated him in such a way as to cause him any more distress."

"You killed me."

"For which I am sorry."

The corridor became silent as Fred took in the few words that Illyria just said to her. She was sorry that she killed Fred? Illyria really didn't have a choice of whom she infected to be able to come back.

"You loved him," Fred announced, hoping she was wrong.

Fred realized that this creature in front of her loved Wesley too. Because Fred couldn't deny the fact that she had always loved him, on some level. It was just never their time, never meant to be. She would grieve for that loss later, when she was alone and could cry her eyes out.

"He was my guide, whom I utterly managed to destroy in a short amount of time."

"You didn't answer my question."

"For which I do not have an answer available. I do not understand what it means to love, human. But I do realize what I did while I inhabited your world. For that I am truly sorry."

Fred still wanted to slap Illyria again. But it seemed that they wanted the same thing. And if it got her the hell out of there, then that would just be great. Only the sound below her feet made her think. Where were they? Where had that ugly creature dragged them off to?

"You don't happen to hear rushing water, do ya?"

"Your hearing is not adequate in this instance. I do not hear," Illyria stopped, cocking her head to the side. "I am wrong. The sound is very much like water. But where might it be coming from?"

"Let's just hope it's not coming this way."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Faith's head went under, but something caught her hand, holding on for dear life. When her head finally surfaced, she saw that Wesley had somehow managed to catch her before she fell all the way out of reach. But the water was almost at the level of their small perch.

"Faith, hold on," he yelled as his other hand joined to pull her out of the rising water.

Faith coughed and sputtered after he managed to lift her out of the water. Thank the fuck this slayer wasn't too large or overweight, or she would be history. He pulled her close as she hacked up half her lung trying to get the water out.

"Oh god, I thought I'd lost you."

Since he managed to shock the hell out of her, she thought that she was a goner too.

"Your power back?" she managed to croak out.

"No," he whispered.

"How long can you hold your breath?"

"Faith, I am not giving up."

"Why do you think I asked? I don't want to give up either."

Wesley cleared out the rest of her hair from around her face, placing each of his large hands on her cheeks. When he brought his lips to hers, he gently kissed her until she was yet again dizzy.

"I can't lose you now," he declared.

"Not gonna. I love you, you big jerk."

He looked at her, stunned. Now she went and did the wrong thing. He'll think she just said that because they were in danger. It's just that the danger brought out the truth, she wanted to yell at him.

"I said it. And I can't take it back."

He still didn't speak to her. That must mean that he didn't feel it back. Now she really screwed this all up. His last thoughts of her would be her stupid confession. Instead of talking, he pulled her close to him, squeezing her with all his might. Now that was sort of a good sign, she thought. He didn't fling her away with disgust.

The water was now to the rim of the shelf they were sitting on.

"Time to swim," he announced, holding her hand tightly.

"Yeah," she gulped out. "We swim."


	7. Things Are Not As They Seem

Chapter Seven – Things Are Not As They Seem

"Giles, don't," Willow pleaded as he managed to break the bond she had placed around him.

"Don't? Did you just tell me to not do something?" Giles' accent had changed from one of refined culture to almost sounding like Spike.

Willow had to keep her composure. Let Spike and Angel deal with Ethan Rayne. She had her own problems. The calm that was pouring through her now had to do with her power and Wesley's combined.

"This isn't what you want. He's controlling you."

"No one controls me, you stupid git. Maybe I'll show you what I mean."

Giles threw up his hands, trying to throw her to the wall yet again. She didn't budge. He couldn't do it. He tried again, but nothing happened. Willow now knew she had the upper hand. So why wasn't her binding spell working? Then she thought of the next best thing. If she couldn't bind him and figure out how to rid him of the nasty power that was surging through him, she'd knock him out and deal with it.

Just as she was about to do that, the Wiccas entered the room, chanting a spell she was unfamiliar with. She felt her power gradually dissipating. That was not in her plans. Now that she could harness all that power, they were going to take it all away from her.

"No, stop," she shouted at them.

"We must stop him," Gertrude stated as they all filed into the room.

Willow reached out with whatever power she had left and felt something strange. Then it hit her. She should have seen this before. In three long strides, she reached Giles and grabbed his hands in hers. She felt the dark magicks swirl around her and something else. Something even darker was poking at them all. Only now that she had combined her powers with Wesley's did she sense it.

Wesley's power must include some kind of way to trace evil, because she wasn't sensing it coming from Giles at all.

"You're just a conduit. Someone's using you," she mumbled out.

The witches surrounded them both as Willow tried again to figure it all out. Slowly she closed her eyes, delving into Giles' mind to find him, not this caricature of him. Almost like she had done with Buffy so long ago when the Slayer had gone into herself after Dawn was taken by Glory. She wouldn't allow someone to take Giles.

A hand touched her shoulder, jolting her into awareness again. It was Gertrude. It all flooded into her mind. Giles screamed out the name clear as a bell as Gertrude's touch invaded her space. Having learned a thing or two from Buffy, Willow's elbow came up and connected with the witch's face, knocking her backward and to the ground. That stunned the rest of the group into silence. Blood poured from Gertrude's mouth as she lay on the ground unconscious.

"Nice shot, Willow," Giles muttered, swaying on his feet.

"Combine your power now, Rupert. Before it's too late," Ethan yelled as Spike held him in a head lock.

Giles grabbed both of Willow's hands. The power that surged through them was enormous. The building shook with the power that the two of them released. Everyone fell to the ground around them as they concentrated on ferreting out the evil that was causing all these problems.

Ethan twisted and writhed on the ground when Willow looked over at him. A black mist arose from him, coming towards the two of them. Before she had time to think, she pushed Giles to the floor before the mist enveloped her.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

A few inches were all they had to go before the whole cavern was filled with water. Wesley had no idea how to get them out of this mess. Maybe if they could swim out the way they came? Faith could probably survive under the water much longer than he could, but would a couple of minutes help? He doubted it very much. At the very least, she would die without him trying to find a way out.

"I can see where your mind is going," Faith said to him, treading water beside him.

"I'm not sure to what you are referring. If you could swim out, maybe find a way."

There could be a slim chance she would survive.

"Not leaving you. I already told you that like a million times."

"I know. I just, I feel like this was avoidable."

"What? Me dying young? Where have you been? I wake up in the morning knowing that I might die that night."

Fatalist to the core. Buffy never seemed to have that fatalistic view of her chances. Faith always had. Yet they both still lived. What kept you alive made you stronger.

"It'll be your face I see instead of some vamp's as he chows down on me. Lot better view."

What she said before, he thought. Would he tell her what he was feeling? He didn't even know how to express how he was feeling about her. The words wouldn't come for him. Here he was the one with the enormous vocabulary. Faith was the one to actually express her sentiment first.

"Faith, you know that I'm not a very demonstrative person."

"Coulda fooled me," she snarked back.

"I care for you," he managed to get out.

"I get it. Not a big deal."

They were both treading water beside each other. If there wasn't so much water, he swore he would have seen tears in her eyes. But neither one of them were criers. That emotion was reserved for gentle beings, such as Fred.

"No, apparently you don't get it. This is a difficult situation."

"And I shouldn't have shared. I get it. Just forget it, OK. It was said in the heat of the moment. Not like I meant it or anything."

Faith was pulling away from him. In their last moments together, she was shutting herself down. Putting his hand up against the ceiling, Wesley managed to get close enough to her without pushing her under.

"This is the way it always is with us. We see each other, we think we know each other, we become close and then one of us pushes the other away. This is not what I wanted to happen. I thought we would have time to explore the feelings."

Faith almost growled in his face. "We never have time, Wes. Don't you get it? My expiration date is up and I'm takin' you down with me. Don't make this any harder than it is."

"You are not taking me down with you. You don't get it either," he replied harshly. "This is all my fault. All this nonsense. If you blame yourself, so help me I will haunt you no matter where you end up in death."

"Thanks for the visual, Wes," she spat out, turning her head so she wouldn't have to look directly at him.

The water was up above their chins now. They both had to tilt their heads to stay above it.

"Let's not fight. If this is the last chance I have with you," he stated firmly.

"Yeah, this is the last chance. I certainly won't end up where you end up, considering my record. Tell Cordy I said hi and have her take care of you."

She knew, she remembered all that she saw before. He certainly didn't want to end up back there, although at least his friends were there. He didn't want to leave her now.

"I don't want Cordelia, I want you," he panted out, becoming exhausted from all the treading of water.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't breathe," Faith cried out.

Their oxygen must have been running out also. Faith started to sink, but he grabbed her arm to keep her afloat alongside him.

"Don't give up yet," he implored her to do.

"Don't want to give up. Please don't give up on me."

"Never."

The ability to keep them both afloat would only last for so long. Before the inevitable happened, Wesley grabbed Faith and pulled her tightly against him. As he placed his mouth over hers, they both started to sink into the murky, cold water.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

"This leads us nowhere. We must go back to that junction."

Illyria was messing with her last nerve, Fred thought. She didn't want to take any kind of direction from Fred, so Fred just let her lead. Now they weren't going anywhere. All the cave corridors looked alike.

"Just admit you don't know where you're going."

"I will do no such thing, human. Why do you insist on trying to raise my anger?"

"Cuz it's kind of fun. But seriously, we've been going in circles."

Illyria stood directly in front of her, placing her hands on her leather-clad hips. The gesture reminded her so much of herself, she almost burst out laughing. It was like she had a twin sister. A sick, kind of twisted twin sister maybe, but twin nonetheless.

"Then you will lead us out of these caverns," she challenged Fred.

"I'm not sayin' I know the way. I'll give it a try."

"Why is it that humans insist on trying?" Illyria stated as they started to walk again.

"If we don't, then nothing ever gets done. Oh, I get it. Not try, do. You think you are so smart."

She flashed a smug look Illyria's way. The god-king didn't take the bait apparently. There was no pissed or smug look in return. Just a small look of puzzlement.

"I possessed the strength of ten armies when I existed. Yes, we must do. If we only try, then we will fail, utterly."

Fred snorted. "Yeah, way to rally the troops. You must have been an inspiration to your armies."

"I commanded worlds to bow before my feet."

Fred really didn't care if Illyria thought she was the Princess of England or whatever her title was before.

"Woo, big deal, missy."

The language nuances were completely lost on Illyria, since she didn't reply to the taunt. As they rounded the next bend, the corridor opened up somewhat, with the ceiling rising as they went further. What Fred didn't understand was the presence of light in the corridors. The two of them didn't have any lights to speak of. Why could they both see quite well?

"You didn't happen to see any light anywhere, did you?"

"No artificial light sources you mean?"

"Yeah. Anything man-made?"

"I did not notice any human made devices. But the corridors are lit for us. The sounds that were emanating before have gotten louder."

Oh great. Just what they needed. Water added to the equation. "It would take approximately a bazillion gallons to fill this cavern like place, so I don't think we are in any danger yet. We just need to keep moving until we get out of this place."

"It is a construct. I am not sure why I did not notice it before," Illyria said, almost shouting eureka at her discovery.

As Fred looked around, the rocks, the formations all were a little too perfect, a little too symmetrical. Nature had a way of making things like what they were viewing non-symmetrical. When was a coincidence not a coincidence?

"Welcome to Planet Hell."

"I did not go through a portal."

Fred's eyebrow shot up. Illyria sometimes just didn't get it. Portals weren't always some flashy, sucky thing. "Cultural reference. At least neither one of us is wearing a red shirt."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel almost had his hands around Ethan's neck when Spike jumped the gun. He'd forgotten how fast Spike could be. Much faster than he ever wanted to be. That was probably why Spike had taken down two slayers in his time. Angel never saw the necessity in angering them. And didn't ever see why he needed to almost get staked for his trouble.

"What are you doing to the Watcher? Let him go you ponce or I'll rip that bloody head off your body."

As Spike spoke, Angel had a chance to observe Ethan close up. Something was definitely wrong with the man. He even smelled not exactly right. Not the same that he did while he was in Sunnydale. Angel never forgot how someone smelled. Even the most expensive perfume couldn't cover the unique smell of a human being.

"So, Ethan Rayne. You going to tell us what's going on or do we have to beat it out of you?"

Angel kept one eye on Ethan and one eye on Giles. His hip still smarted from being slammed into the wall. Willow had gotten control back, if just for a few moments. Spike started to cut the man's air supply gradually, until he looked a little blue around the lips.

"Don't kill him, yet," Angel added as he stalked in front of the Chaos mage.

Angel grabbed Ethan by the neck as Spike still held onto the man from the back. How many times had the two of them killed their prey this way before having souls? How many people's lives had they ruined by working together for evil? Now the only thing they were trying to do was stop evil from taking over yet again.

As Angel held onto Ethan's neck, he felt that surge of evil again. Angelus felt it too, knocking on the door to be let out. Angel tamped him down, told him to behave. But it wasn't like he didn't feel Angelus lurking underneath there somewhere. Ethan never had felt that evil before. Maybe wanting to cause mayhem, but not pure, unadulterated evil. Angel had only felt this kind of power once before.

"Stop the witches," Ethan gasped out as Angel cut his air supply off.

Why would he say that, Angel thought? As he watched the man, he saw his eyes flash fire for a few moments, then turn black once more. The harder Angel squeezed, the fire came back into them.

"How?" Angel simply responded.

He turned to see the witches surround both Willow and Giles now. Buffy and Xander stood off to the side, joined by Clarisse. Someone here was causing all of this and it wasn't Ethan. One of the witches? But why?

Ethan then mumbled under his now returning breath, since Angel had to let him go to look over the room. The smile on Ethan's face was telling.

Angel saw Willow's elbow come out and smash into the head witch's face, slamming her to the ground forcefully. Both Buffy and Xander started forward.

"Nice shot, Willow," he heard Giles say from the circle.

"Combine your power now, Rupert. Before it's too late," Ethan yelled as Spike held him in a head lock.

Spike had pulled back on the man as he spoke, thinking that he was going to do something bad again. But Ethan just slumped against the vampire, black mist rising out from him as he started to slide out of Spike's arms to the floor.

Angel didn't know whether to go for the circle or pull Spike out of the way first. He watched Willow and Giles join hands, certain that the two of them were of sound mind right then. So he went for Spike instead. He really didn't want to have an evil Spike on his hands. A snarky Spike was enough for him to pull a stake on occasion. Pushing Ethan out of his fellow vampire's hands, he dragged Spike away from the mist as it traveled over to where Willow and Giles were linked. Then in horror, he watched as Willow took control of the situation and pushed Giles aside. Both he and Spike, who now looked worse than death warmed over, took off for her before the mist could take her over completely.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

The cold was soothing. The water enveloping. Wesley couldn't hold his breath any longer. Just a couple of gulps and it would be all over. He saw Faith take a gulp, then another, watched as her face turned serene, watched as she floated down, away from him. He flayed around, reached for her hand and took a hold.

Then he felt the quake in his mind like the water was rolling around him. Willow and Giles had just done something they shouldn't have. They revealed who or what was causing all the chaos. It released his power back to him when they had regained their equilibrium. He only had a few seconds to decide what to do before he would drown. Up was the answer. Through the rock and up out of this tomb. Pushing all other thoughts aside, he used his magicks to shatter the rocks above him, pulling Faith's limp body as he saw a faint light from the hole that he was able to blast.

Breaking the surface, he breathed in deep, lungs that were ready to burst burning with the oxygen that hit. He then dragged Faith up to the hole. Amazed that he even had the strength left, he pulled himself over of the jagged edge, bringing Faith's limp body immediately after. His summers spent swimming and holding his breath had given him a slight advantage. He was always a good swimmer when he was actually able to swim. In the Academy, he often challenged fellow students to holding their breath under water. He won every single time.

Faith did not move as he placed her on the cool rock ground. Her lips were tinged blue, her lungs not moving. Surely they hadn't been under that long. But Faith might have welcomed such a serene kind of death instead of dying by the hands of some demon. She might have precipitated the drowning. So he did what he had been taught to do. Get the water out of her stomach and lungs, then do CPR. As he pushed frantically on her abdomen to get her to cough up all the water she had inhaled, she still didn't respond.

Voices broke him out of his efforts, two figures coming around a bend in the corridor.

His mind was playing tricks on him. Surely he wasn't dead. He knew what it was like to be dead. It wasn't something he relished doing again quite this soon. But how else would the two beings in front of him appear. Two in the same body, yet entirely different. One an Old One, a god-king from another time, and the other a wisp of a girl, a genius with the penchant for tacos.

He looked away, still hoping that he could clear the water from Faith's lungs so she would breathe again.

"You're doing it wrong," the genius stated matter of factly, crouching down beside him.

Her long hair flowed around her as she pushed him aside. Indeed he was, since as soon as Fred started what she had so obviously learned better, there appeared to be movement in Faith. He ran to her head and pulled it to the side while Faith coughed up the water that filled her lungs. The other being stood at attention beside the three, ice-blue eyes boring into his head, even though he wasn't looking directly at her. He was looking at Fred. She was here, she was solid.

"Fred?" he whispered.

Fred placed her hand over her mouth, nodding to him.

"Wes," Faith croaked out, still gasping for the needed air that had replaced the water in her lungs.

"I'm here, Faith," he replied as he grabbed her outstretched hand.

"They are not dead," Illyria stated.

"No shit," Fred shot back.

"Are you sure?" he questioned.

He noticed that Faith had opened her eyes and was looking around at the new arrivals.

"What the fuck?" she bit out, still raspy from choking. "We're dead."


	8. Not Dead, Yet

Chapter Eight – Not Dead, Yet

"We're dead," Faith called out.

They had to be dead. Both Fred and Illyria were dead. Why shouldn't they be? The last thing she remembered was Wes kissing her like he actually loved her. In her mind, that had to mean that they died.

Wes felt her neck for a pulse, shaking his head that she did indeed have a heartbeat. Now that scared her. Because if they weren't dead, then who the hell was standing over her?

"Wesley, I, I'm not sure what's going on," Fred stuttered out.

Faith could see the change in Wes' eyes. Like he was wary of her, but wanted to believe that it was really Fred in front of him. She just wanted to get up and put herself in between the two of them, make Fred go away forever. Now she'd never have that chance with him. Never. The whole freakin' game had changed, and not for the better.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Fred is gone."

Yeah, you got that right, mister, Faith wanted to shout at him. She was alive, Fred was dead. End of story.

"I am gone. I mean, I did die. I am dead. Am I making any sense?"

"I do not think that such trivial things matter," Illyria spoke up.

Wes closed his eyes at Illyria's pronouncement. Now she'd have to get up and get between those two. Did she have the strength to stop them from fighting? The one thing that hadn't changed was Wes hadn't let her hand go. He was still holding onto her firmly, not too tight, not too limp. Like she was his lifeline or something. Score one for her?

"Wes, we should go," Faith finally said, attempting to get up off the cold ground.

"We've been running in circles for a long time now," Fred announced.

"It's a construct, we have discovered. Although the source that is powering it eludes my detection."

"Radar too?" Fred shot back.

The glare that Illyria gave her twin almost made Faith laugh. Apparently those two weren't getting along so well. Wes just watched like it was a tennis match.

He helped her up off the ground, still holding onto that hand. She swayed a little, then was steadied by Wes' strong arms. How had he survived in that water? She tried, really tried to hold her breath. It just wasn't meant to be. If he hadn't gotten his powers back, they'd be sunk, literally.

"Willow shoot your powers back?"

"Indeed, just in time. I suspect that she was able to control Rupert just enough to warrant giving it back to me. I think that if we find a way out of this, then everything will fall into place. Any lasting effects?"

He gently looked her up and down, brushing her hair out of her face as he did. She could tell that it made Fred uncomfortable, but screw her, Faith thought. She had dibs.

"Wesley, we need to talk," Fred spoke up.

"If this is a construct like Illyria says, then you do not exist. I will not believe that you do. Let's go Faith."

He took Faith's elbow to lead her out of the cavern. She swore she saw Illyria roll her eyes a little. Kind of hard to tell with them being so big and icy-blue.

"So you believe that's Illyria but you don't believe that it possibly could be me? You jerk," Fred cried out.

Wes stopped in his tracks, closing his eyes in the process. Only Faith could tell that he was barely keeping it together. That he just wanted to turn around and take the woman into his arms. That definitely wasn't what Faith wanted.

"Your soul was obliterated. Do not assume …"

"Yeah, when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. It happened. Tell him, Illyria."

Fred glared back at her twin now. But Wes still didn't turn around. Faith watched the scene like it was some sick kind of soap opera. The one where the long lost twin shows up with a secret.

"When this shell died, it released the former inhabitant to the correct state. In other words, her soul has been restored."

"No," Wes whispered.

"Oh, damn. Now will you look at this? Goody, goody. Mom's not gonna be pleased with you Freddie."

Now Faith did jump in front of Wes. He spun around too, just to look and make sure it was the dead lawyer.

"Oh, stuff it, Lilah. This is so not my fault," Fred told the newcomer.

Faith saw Lilah in all her glory, followed by a dark-haired woman in a flowing skirt. New player?

"Faith, I do believe that we might just be dead," Wes told Faith in her ear.

"Hardly, lover. Fred escaped, so we were sent here to find her."

"Escaped?" Fred shouted. "That portal pulled me here."

"Yeah. Tell that to the boss."

The dark-haired woman strode forward, looking around at the cavern, studying it. "We're certainly not in Kansas anymore, now are we? Not even England."

"A portal to another dimension would explain the phenomena," Illyria answered, not at all troubled by the newcomers. "Wesley, you know the rude one?"

"I did," he said, tightening his hold on Faith's hand.

Was he trying to signal her to run? She certainly wanted to do that right then.

"Thought that all those memories Texas left you would give you a clue," Lilah shot back.

Illyria turned her head, focusing on Lilah once more. An eyebrow shot up in recognition. Where'd she learn that, Faith thought? Probably from being around Wes, no doubt.

"You are the evil lawyer bitch," Illyria responded.

Both Faith and Fred burst out laughing. Faith couldn't help it. Illyria delivered the line so deadpan, or she was totally serious. Probably the latter. Fred knew exactly where she got the memory in the first place.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Mom's been looking for you. Let's go before she sends out more to find you. Might give Wes a coronary if he sees any more dead people."

"You're still dead?" he asked Lilah.

"We're all dead. Well, except the two of you. Not sure why you aren't. Maybe it's those powers that Cordy let you keep from Vail. Sure you don't want to join us again?"

Faith moved forward, making sure that Lilah didn't take any advantage. Wes stopped her, pulling her back against him. A slight shiver went down his body as she touched him. Like he felt for the first time that she was alive. That maybe the others weren't.

"I don't think that would be necessary. We'll just be going now."

"Wait. We know the way out. The portal entrance is down the way," the dark-haired woman stated.

"Yeah, right," Faith answered.

"Jenny, why would they believe a dead woman?" Lilah asked.

"Jenny? Lilah, are you doing this? Why on earth would you use her?"

"Hey, I didn't pair her with me. All the boss' fault. Just ask."

"Oh shit," Faith heard another voice join the others.

Cordelia and another guy, short with black hair, entered the cavern too.

"Cordy?" Wes sighed out, not wanting it to be her.

"Now, why are we all standing around here scaring those two? Lilah, you found Fred. Thank you so much," Cordy said, a little sarcasm in her voice. "But you weren't supposed to scare the natives."

Wes started to inch back, definitely going to make a run for it this time. About damn time, she almost turned to him to say.

"Where'd she come from? I so do not deal in beings from the Deeper Well. Not my realm," Cordelia explained.

"I was pulled here," Illyria told her.

"Me too," Fred added.

"You two?" Cordelia pointed to Faith and Wes.

"Not here on our own, that's for sure," Faith said to the former cheerleader.

"Doyle, figure out how to get them back to their dimension. When I find out who is behind this, it's not gonna be pretty."

"Sure thing, sweetie. Only, well, the portal was from our dimension. I can't exactly take them back that way. They'd have to be dead and all. Not what the man would want, considering how he's holding that lovely lady there."

Faith hadn't noticed that Wes had one arm around her torso, head almost by her ear, like he was going to whisper to her. His large hand was splayed across her naked skin, warming it just slightly. Her shirt had ridden up in all the chaos. She just hadn't noticed his gesture until that guy had pointed it out. But the look she saw on Fred's face? That look of hurt? Oh, she'd been there before with guys. Fred was jealous, intensely jealous. And by the looks of things, so was Lilah. She couldn't tell about Illyria, because the damn demon always had basically same look on her face.

"God, there's gotta be a story to this," she heard the woman Jenny declare.

"Men," Lilah seconded the thought.

"Wes?" Fred croaked out.

"Wes, you can let go of Faith now. We're not gonna kill either one of you. I promise," Cordelia explained to the two.

He lessened up his hold on her, but only just a little. She could still feel his breath in her hair, feel his strong hand on her stomach. It felt good. Solid. Safe. Like he was hers, finally. Now why wasn't she jumping for joy?

For good measure, Faith laced her hand with the one covering her middle. He gave a quick squeeze in reassurance back.

"So, what Illyria said was true, Cordelia?"

Everyone stopped and looked at Wes. The look of sorrow in Cordy's eyes said it all. Everything was true. Faith thought that maybe Wes would be happy that his former girlfriend wasn't floating in the ether or obliterated into nothingness. The tension from his body seeped into hers, making her want to hit something, very hard.

"When Illyria was placed back into the Deeper Well, Fred was restored to her former state, which in this instance would be death. She can't come back," Cordy explained to them.

Faith watched as Fred swallowed down tears from falling. Lilah didn't look like she cared one bit about Fred and what had happened, but she was still eying Faith's closeness to Wes like a hawk. That guy Doyle just looked perplexed by it all.

"I can send you back. It'll feel funny, but it'll work. If that's OK?" Cordy asked gently.

"I knew it. You're a Power," Lilah shouted in triumph.

"No shit, Sherlock. Don't think they'd just put anyone in charge of your ass, now did you?" Cordy shot back.

"And so it goes," Doyle added for amusement.

Wes let go of her hand finally, pushing forward towards Cordelia. If Fred was corporeal, was Cordy? Faith kind of hoped she was. She'd love to give Cordy a pop to the nose for all the meddling she'd done over the past year.

"I assume that if you are present, then time is of the essence?" Wes asked Cordelia.

"Yeah, big bad, evil, yada, yada. When are we ever not in a hurry?"

"Have you been taking good care of Cordelia?" Wes turned to Doyle.

"She does what she likes, man."

A slight smile played over Wes' face for a moment. That haggard look had been replaced for that brief respite. "I wish to speak with Fred, if that's alright?"

"Can't," Cordy cut him off. "Time schedule. Willow is not gonna hold him for long."

"Giles?" Faith wondered.

"No. I wish. He was just a pawn. Just like you were before, Wes. Damn it, I should have seen this coming. Should have prepared for it."

"He's not?" Wes groaned.

Now that confused Faith. Wes, that big brain of his, had already figured out who the big bad was and she had no clue. Sometimes it was better to just be the muscle. The sudden chill that washed over her body at the realization at what Cordy had said though threw her for a loop.

Faith strode forward, wanting Wes to know that she'd figured it out too. That her brain was actually working fast this time, instead of just her fists. She placed a hand on his shoulder, hoping to reassure him that she was there to back him up, no matter what happened.

"We so really need to kick this guy's ass this time. Vail's going down this time, for good, even if I have to grind his bones to dust with my fists."

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Angel didn't realize how quickly humans could be thrown across a room. Every human body in the room hit a wall or another human. Even Buffy wasn't immune to the power that radiated from the black mist now trying to envelope Willow. But it wasn't grabbing a hold of her. No, it couldn't. Not with Giles holding onto her foot with all his might and Spike a whole entire leg. It somehow couldn't get a grip on her.

As he looked up at her from his position kneeling beside her, arm around her waist, he could see that her hair was completely white, not the black she was known for having once upon a time. That meant only one thing: the mist couldn't turn her, couldn't influence her, didn't have the power to make her evil. It reminded him of an earth goddess come to life. He could feel the positive energy flow through her, around her, enveloping not only her, but also the three of them, protecting them from the evil still spinning around and around the room.

"Willow, what now?" Angel ground out as the chaos flew around them.

"Just wait. They'll come. This will work."

Cryptic much? As Cordelia used to say. How he wished she was there. But she wasn't. He certainly remembered all of her visits to his dreams. She always seemed to have a calming effect on him, helping him solve whatever puzzle there might be. This puzzle surrounding them wasn't even in the realm of solvable right then. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

The air shimmered around them, showing through the black mist. Angel thought that maybe there was another entity trying to get through Willow's shield of pure energy, but as he saw not one, but several people materialize, he realized that it probably was a portal opening up.

The black mist became darker and swirled around them, coalescing into a single body. That sneer was unmistakable, that reddish skin something that he had wanted to rip to shreds not too long ago, for taking one of the last things he cared about from him. But Willow wasn't letting Angel go, nor letting her other two charges go any time soon. Her grip on him would have crushed a mere human. As he looked down, he noticed the grimace on Giles' face. Spike just grunted and took it.

"Ah, little girl. Your white energy will not save them, or you."

Vail walked through Willow's energy barrier without flinching. She must be faltering. That must be it. That black swirly stuff must have weakened her. Only before he could reach the four of them, several bodies surrounded them, including the person that Vail had killed once before.

"The cavalry has arrived," Spike gleefully exclaimed.

"Even with your combined power, you're not strong enough to conquer me."

"You will be conquered, just like you were in my time," Illyria stated, obviously knowing more than anyone else in the room about Vail.

Vail was an Old One? That was news to him. Would explain some of his powers. Probably would explain why he was back from the dead.

"Posturing," he heard another familiar voice mutter.

Another portal opened, more bodies poured out, more bodies surrounded them, until Angel couldn't see Vail anymore from the numbers in front of him. But it was so quiet, he could almost hear a pin drop. Until another voice joined in, breaking the silence.

"OK, here's the deal. You go with Illyria and I don't rip you to shreds. Got it?"

Cordy, Cordy, Cordy. Thinking that she could defeat this crazy being. Shit. He'd have to have a talk with her sometime. If any of them survived this. Oh, wait. Cordy was already dead, so hopefully she wouldn't be wiped from existence then.

"Your powers are diminished in this dimension. Did you really think that you could defeat me?"

Behind Vail, a portal opened, spitting out even grosser creatures than he was. All looked ready to do battle. Angel had decided to stand up finally, still keeping a hold of white Willow just in case. Spike and Giles had joined him, looking relieved that Willow's power wasn't crushing them anymore.

"Oh good. I get to kill something. Unless those things are already dead," Spike quipped.

"Might be," Angel retorted back, looking at the drooling things with disgust.

He was just about to give the signal to attack when a figure from behind all of it whirled into the fray, starting in anyway. Buffy. Now he'd have to have a talk with her. He hadn't given any signal. Faith joined quickly, sending one of the creatures to the ground with a splat.

"Willow, can we let go?" he asked the witch.

"Go for it. I'll do what I can. Giles, stay here. I'll need your help. Wes' too."

Both Angel and Spike jumped into the fray, along with Xander and a few other familiar faces. As he swung out a fist, he spotted a face he hadn't seen in a long, long time. The Irishman was holding his own, eventually releasing his inner demon to save Cordy from one of the slimy demons. The spines on Doyle's body were a defensive mechanism that Angel sometimes had envied. Cordy was helping him as they both kicked and punched.

Grabbing Wes' shoulder, he thrust the man back behind him. "Willow, now. She needs you." He hesitated for a moment, looking for a familiar dark-haired slayer. "Don't worry. I'll have her back. Now move."

Wesley dodged flying fists to reach Willow as Angel kicked out at a vicious demon with more than two sets of arms. Just like in the alley, yet with more lighting and no ambient rain falling.

Illyria twisted and turned, making demons fly around as the one person he didn't expect to see guarded the only other person he never expected to see again stood behind him, guarding his back. Lindsey, guarding Fred. He almost shouted at Fred to get away from that lying, two-timing, back-stabbing, dirty bastard when he saw Lindsey whirl around as Fred screeched. Lindsey battled to protect Fred as she tried helping him. Illyria came around and snapped the creature's neck, stunning the two of them for a moment.

Shaking the scene out of his head, he just wanted to find Vail and snap the demon's neck for good this time. He had seen Vail go down, had seen Illyria give her life to defeat the thing for good, or so he thought.

Buffy and Faith were fighting side by side. Poetry in motion as the two of them mowed down demon after demon. On the other side of the two of them, Spike had joined their little machine, punching out, fangs showing clearly as he fought. This was probably how it was back in Sunnydale, just before it collapsed into a crater, trapping the First forever. Of course, Spike went up in flames too, saving them all. Bastard, Angel thought. That should have been him.

"Same old, same old," he heard Buffy quip as she landed a punch to the gut of a demon.

"Yeah, been to this party before. Didn't like the party favors. Let's do some damage," Angel said as he slammed another demon's head to the ground.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wesley didn't want to leave Faith vulnerable. She didn't have anyone to watch her back in the fight. But he did as Angel told him. Willow must have some type of plan. Or she was evil and wanted his power for herself. The white hair and serene attitude didn't say that to him. It said that she was power, ultimate, earthly power. She literally glowed as she gestured him over. Taking his hand just as she did Giles, the glow became brighter, more intense, until he had to look away to avoid the glare.

He didn't feel any power draining, just the opposite. He felt relieved. All the black, dark magicks that had been swirling around him had disappeared with a pop. He now wondered if his hair had turned white also. Giles' hair hadn't, so maybe that didn't come to pass. But his hand glowed almost as much as Willow did.

"Willow? What do we do?" Giles asked.

"There you are," Vail said from the crowd.

He had made his way over to the three. Wesley didn't know how he had done it. He looked frail and ready to fall apart at the seams. But the power that seemed to emanate from him was unmistakable. Willow only smiled.

"Don't think so," Cordelia said as she stepped in front of the three.

"Your power…," Vail started.

"Isn't as great as yours. Yeah, I get it. But I'm it. The Powers That Be wanna take you down. Might as well be me."

Cordy backhanded the demon, but he didn't flinch.

Willow whispered only to them. "Back to back. Take Giles' hand, Wes. When I say the word, let's put them in their place."

Wesley didn't know why he followed her directions, but he did. They formed a circle, facing out. Taking Giles' warm hand in one and Willow's small, fragile hand in the other, he felt at peace. The whole room took on a warm glow. It was coming from all around, enveloping all the good forces in the room. Each one of them glowed with power. Each one of them struck down an evil demon as the power that Willow had gathered struck out also, bringing down the rest of them. Demons fell all around in agony, turning almost inside out, until there was nothing left of them. Nothing but the good guys and Vail.

But Vail had taken the distraction to his advantage. He had his hand around Cordy's neck, like he was going to snap her in two. Wesley wanted to move, but both Giles and Willow held him back. She was dead, wasn't she? Now he wasn't so sure. She looked frightened, like Vail could do her some damage. Before Doyle could move forward to help, Angel was there in a flash, wrenching the demon's hands from around Cordy's neck. Angel held the demon high, dangling him from his neck.

"You're not gonna kill another person that I love. Do you understand?" Angel growled, going into game face.

Vail's head flew off his body as Angel viciously twisted it. The rest of the body slumped to the ground as he did so. Illyria strode forward, gathering the head in her leather-clad arms. She proceeded to rip it to shreds, just like she said she would. She pulled out a small piece of something as she did so. Holding this thing in her hands, she nodded to the rest of them and crushed it in her palm.

"He is back in the Deeper Well. Trapped for all eternity."


	9. It's Just the Beginning

Chapter Nine – It's Just the Beginning

"Blue?" Spike inquired.

"Jenny?" Giles said, astonished that the woman was standing in the crowd.

"Tara?" Willow gasped as she ran forward.

Most of the others, including those loved ones not seen since they died, quickly vanished through a portal, with a few exceptions.

"They're OK. I had to send them back. I could only hold them here for a little while. Just know that they're safe," Cordy wanted them all to know.

Giles accepted the vision for what it was worth, but Willow looked distraught. Both Giles and Spike grabbed each of her hands simultaneously. Then Spike proceeded to growl as he saw that Giles had done the same thing as he did. Angel just sighed as he watched the two men start to pull Willow in opposite directions.

What Angel didn't count on was Wes approaching Illyria. Gone was that look of desperation and insanity that Wes had taken on before they had battled the Circle. Somehow his eyes had softened a little towards the Old One.

"Illyria, are you sure about Vail?" Wes immediately asked.

"I am certain. He will no longer terrorize this realm. I will keep him where he belongs."

"You're the new Keeper?"

"I am one of the Keepers now. Drogyn sends his regards, half breed."

Angel almost swallowed his tongue. He thought he had snapped the guy's neck. The little smirk that played across Illyria's face said it all.

"Uh, yeah. Tell him I said hi too. And that if he pulls a stunt like that again, I may not be so forgiving."

"I will inform him of your displeasure, vampire. Now I must go."

"Illyria, wait. I wanted to thank you," Wesley started. "For what you have done, for all of us."

"Since Vail was one of the Old Ones that entombed me in the Deeper Well, I saw it only fitting that he should join me. He may have changed his appearance and his name, but I knew the instant he challenged me what he was."

"Remind me to never get on her bad side," Faith mumbled to Buffy.

Angel watched as his team, which mostly consisted of dead people, gather on one side, while Buffy's team, which were mostly alive, gather a little further away, whispering amongst themselves. It wasn't lost on him that Spike hesitated until pulling away from Willow to join him. Wes and Faith joined him too, as did Fred, Cordy, Lindsey, and unfortunately Lilah. Giles and the others stood back a little, waiting for something to happen. Finally Angel turned to Cordelia, wanting answers to all the questions he had rolling around in his head.

Illyria approached Spike, brushing aside a dark curl that had fallen across his forehead.

"You must take care of the rest of these humans. I will no longer be able to perform that task."

"Blue, I, we never even had a chance, now did we?"

Illyria's head turned, like she was contemplating what the chances between them had been. As she faded from sight, she kept her hand against Spike's cheek until she was gone.

"Bye, Blue," Spike whispered to himself, not wanting most of the audience to hear his sentiment.

"Wesley, we should talk," Fred burst out, pulling away from Lindsey, who seemed to be guarding her like an attack dog ready to pounce.

Giles and his Sunnydale contingent started to clean up and help the rest of the coven as Wes pulled Fred aside. Lindsey kept his distance, but not by much. Angel walked over to Faith to offer some encouragement.

"So, you found your way back," Angel started off.

"Screw you," Faith snapped.

"Hey, none of this is my fault."

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Wesley wanted to reach out and touch Fred, but he was afraid that she would fade into nothingness, just as Illyria had moments before. But Fred seemed real, seemed corporeal.

"This isn't gonna last very long, Cordy figured. My corporealness I mean. So I guess this is goodbye. I'm sorry that I worried you and all. It was never my intention."

"Fred, you died," Wesley choked out.

He couldn't believe that she was babbling at a time like this. Like she had anything to feel sorry about. He was the one that felt sorry for all the time that he had wasted with her while she was alive. He was the one that felt he blew every chance that he was ever given with her. Now he'd never see her again.

"Yep. It happened. But I'm here now. And I know you have all these questions. Know this though. You're special. I know now how special I was to you. Don't live your life mourning me though. You need to move on."

Wesley inwardly cringed. He knew exactly where this was leading.

"I remember. Everything," she announced abruptly.

That said it all to Wesley. That the Fred before, the Fred before Wolfram and Hart would never have loved him. She was living a lie when she told him that she loved him, that they were soulmates. He had figured that out long ago, right after his memories were restored.

"I, Fred, I'm …"

"Wes, I do love you. Please remember that. Don't ever forget that."

He could see the tears starting to form in her eyes. Making her sad was not what he wanted her last corporeal memory of him to be. Gently, he caressed her cheek, feeling like he had just touched her for the first time.

"You were the ideal. The smart guy, the book guy, the one I could talk to about all the science stuff and not make me feel so geeky. But …"

Great, he thought. There was always a but in the sentence when it came to him.

"But you have someone else now, if you just tried. Someone who will love you just as much, if not more than I ever could. And she can accept you for who you are."

Fred could never have accepted him. She had finally said it. He had felt it in his heart that she never could have accepted all the things that he had done. There had been too much water under the bridge for that to ever happen. Had Angel done each of them a favor by taking away their memories of Connor? Or had he doomed them all to a lie and heartbreak?

The raised voices in the background didn't bring him out of his gloom. He really didn't know what to do at that point other than to just breathe in and out. It would take time to get over the fact that someone he truly loved had never loved him the way he wanted in return.

"You son of a bitch. If it hadn't been for you, none of this would have happened. Wes over there wouldn't be fucked up right now. Fred would probably be alive. Maybe even Cordy. I am just so sick and tired of this," Faith yelled.

Wesley didn't have it in him to get in the middle of the two bickering. He watched as Lindsey approached Fred, who started to go over to talk with Angel. His consoling of Fred should have irked him. But it made him feel slightly better that Fred had someone in which she could lean on.

He had no other choice other than to leave and let the others clean up the mess. He didn't have the heart to do it any longer.

"Wes, wait. We should talk," Cordy said as she took his arm before he made it out the door.

"I think that I'm done talking for today, Cordelia. Please give my regards to the rest of your people."

"No, I mean now. You're not leaving until we get some things straight."

Wesley didn't mean to, but he jerked his arm away from her, wanting to get out of the room, which seemed to close in on him as the seconds ticked by.

"Hey, you're not gonna go off and brood by yourself."

"Let go of me," Wesley growled, watching his arm start to glow.

"This is why we need to talk."

"So you can tell me why you decided it would be prudent to give me Vail's power. The evil power that almost killed us all."

"Vail's power just unlocked the power that was within you. Remember when I said you had the best mojo. I wasn't kidding. If you hadn't been so stupid when you confronted Vail in the first place, you would have had that power and been able to stop him. But no. You had to go off all Lone Ranger on him, without weapons, I might add."

"Save it for someone who cares," Wesley shot back, storming out of the room before he said anything else to Cordelia that they both would regret.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel backed off when Faith said what she really thought. She'd been trying to keep her temper in check when it came to Angel and Wesley's relationship. She surely didn't want to get into the middle of that one. But now she was pissed. Pissed at the world as a whole. Not only was Angel a fucking jerk, Wes was leaving in a big hurry, without so much as a glance at her over his shoulder.

Although from the looks of things, Fred had let the man down, which probably meant now she had no shot with him whatsoever. Fuck this, she thought. She wasn't good enough for him. It wasn't going to happen in her world. She would have to move on, yet again. Right now, it seemed like the best plan in her book.

Cordy made her way over to the slayer as the coven cleaned up the rest of the mess. Angel had started talking with Giles, which maybe wasn't the best plan either. She just hoped whatever he was saying to the Watcher that it wasn't about her. She'd had enough of this shit for one day.

Fred had joined Cordy along with Lilah. Oh shit, now what? Faith didn't care who the hell Cordy thought she was. She could still kick all their dead asses back to their dimension if need be.

"What?" she snarled as the three approached her.

"We need to talk to you about Wes. He's hurting right now."

"No shit, Sherlock. How many times can the three of you fuck with his head and him not come out all loopy?"

Fred winced, but the other two women kept up their neutral faces.

"Which is why we need your help. I never meant to hurt him."

"Well, you did, Cor. And you think that I can make it all better? You got another thing coming. Not exactly the poster child for stable here."

"I don't think he needs stable. I think he needs you," Cordy pointed out.

"What makes you think that I can keep him? The three of you? None of you could."

Cordy, Lilah and Fred looked at each other and grinned at the same time.

"Ah, we're sort of …

"Well, we're actually …

"We're dead. Get a clue," Lilah finished. "Gives you the advantage."

"Great. So now I'm fourth best. What makes you think that he wants me? He loves you," Faith pointed to Fred.

"He thought he did. It was based on a lie."

"Well, what about you, Lilah? You were all hot and heavy."

"He could never trust me. And he was right."

"But Cordy? You were his best friend. Come on."

"Hey, best friend, not girlfriend. Not in the cards. Besides, corporeally challenged."

"He'll reject me."

"Oh, geez," Fred interjected.

"He'll think I'm not good enough."

"He boned me. Don't think that'll happen. Evil lawyer bitch," Lilah smirked.

Fred socked Lilah in the arm.

"I can't be his friend."

Cordy sighed. "Of course you can. You already have been. You've listened to him, talked to him, protected him, sat with him when he was sick, done everything that I ever did and more. Only you never abandoned him at any of those times. You never lied to him, any of those times."

They were all right. And hey, she did have the advantage that she was free to live her life. Unlike the three of them. Well, since they were dead.

Should she go after him? Would he even talk to her? Probably the biggest question in her mind was did he still care for her? No use sitting around while a bunch of dead people roamed around driving her crazy. No use brooding about it like Angel did. She was gone from this place, mostly to get her head on straight. Then she'd come back and face the music.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're so bloody stupid sometimes," Giles ranted.

"It was just a job. I had no idea that some being would possess my body and try to destroy the world," Ethan shot back.

"Oh, the amount of evilness didn't tip you off?"

"No need to be sarcastic. I was just out for a little fun."

Giles had cornered Ethan before he could get away. Interrogating him was going to be so much fun. He watched as Spike fawned over Willow, grating on his nerves like no other time. Spike usually just got under his skin a little. Now with Willow involved, Spike had burrowed deep down under, kind of like a splinter in need of extraction. And he also had to deal with Ethan. Sometimes he just wanted to say bugger it all and walk away.

"It's not fun when my head gets bashed in too many times to count," Giles reminded his one time best friend.

"I apologized."

"Not good enough, old man."

Giles didn't know what to do with his old friend. Ethan sometimes caused more problems than he was worth. He should probably just have the Council lock him up and throw away the key.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you go," Giles asked.

"Because, um, I did help you in the end."

"Just because that's somewhat true doesn't change my mind about you," Giles growled back.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Come work for me. Under my supervision, maybe, just maybe I'll forgive you eventually." Giles let that slip out, but he knew of no other way to keep Ethan out of trouble.

"Are you offering me a job? Any benefits?"

"Don't push your luck. Feel lucky that I just don't take your head off right this instant. Or let one of the vampires do it for me."

"They your lap dogs now?"

"Hardly. They invite trouble just about as much as you do."

"Yet you still fight beside them."

"Doesn't mean that I have to like it."

"Doesn't mean the first time one of them steps over the line that your stake won't be at its ready."

"Touché, my friend. Needless to say, I'm dealing with you at the moment."

"Yes, I do believe you are. I'll agree, on one condition."

"You're not in any position to start making demands."

"I would love to help train the redhead."

Giles got up and locked his hands around Ethan's throat. "You in no way will go near Willow. Do you understand?"

"A bit touchy, aren't you? My throat is sore from the vampire's grip. Do you mind?"

"You try anything with her, and I will rip your head from your body and feed it to a Grayrl demon."

"You wouldn't?"

"Indeed I would."

"Have the hots for her?"

Giles's fist connected solidly with Ethan's jaw, making Ethan whip back. He crumbled before Giles' feet in an instant. Then Giles just walked away.

"I'll take that as a yes, then?" Ethan mumbled out from the pain.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow wanted to follow Giles, but wanted to console Spike too for whatever was bothering him. Choices, choices. On one hand, Giles had been through a lot. On the other hand, Spike looked like a puppy dog that had been run over by a car. And oh god, had she just seen Tara? Now that twisted around in her brain until it was too much to believe.

"Luv, he'll be fine. Don't you worry your pretty little head about the Watcher."

"Yeah, you weren't possessed by some ancient demon who wanted to destroy the world."

Spike didn't let it rest there. "Yeah, well, right. I wasn't possessed. I think. Not so sure about that now. Not exactly been myself lately."

Willow wanted to scream back that she had just broken up with her girlfriend, had potentially seen her dead girlfriend, and didn't need the two of them fighting over her affections. Or did she? That glowy feeling that she had after making all those bad demons go bye bye came back. She never had two guys fight over her. No, no, she thought. Bad Willow. That was just a bad thought. It wouldn't be fair. Would it?

"You were acting a little wonky if you ask me."

"Right you are."

Damn it, he wasn't supposed to agree with her, she realized. Maybe she would hide behind Xander. But no, he was literally smooching with Clarisse in the corner. And Buffy was gesturing wildly to Angel. And Giles was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if she screamed anyone would pay attention.

"Try 'em both out for size," Lilah whispered in her ear.

"Lilah, get your ass over here. This portal isn't gonna stay open for long," Cordelia shouted.

Huh, Cordelia was a Power, Willow concluded. She was an uberwitch and Cordy was some honking big power in the universe. Would wonders ever cease? Willow gave a wave to Fred and watched as the rest went through the portal. It vanished as if they had never been there.

"Damn it, Cordy. I wanted to talk to her," Angel declared as the portal winked out of existence.

"Yep. She conquered and left. Never thought I'd say that about her," Buffy mentioned as she took a hold of Angel's arm.

Spike didn't even flinch as he looked at Buffy touching Angel. It wasn't all that an affectionate touch. Kind of looked like Buffy was gonna give Angel a piece of her mind too.

"OK, who wants to deal with a Chaos mage and a backstabbing witch?" Xander announced as he strode forward, Clarisse hot on his heels.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, do you wanna erase everyone else's minds about what they saw?" Doyle asked her.

Doyle had taken the first contingent back to their realm. There was lots of hand holding and back patting. It was rough on the people who still had loved ones in that room to see them again. When she finally got back with Fred, Lilah and Lindsey, Doyle had already taken care of most of it. Sure, there were lots of questions, but she'd had enough for one day and dismissed everyone with a job well done speech.

Lilah had just smirked and walked away, which meant that Cordy would have to keep an even closer eye on the bitch. Her job would never be done when it came to that woman.

"Nah. I'm not Angel. Not gonna have it come back and bite me in the butt down the road."

"Yeah, I think bein' bitten once in one day is enough."

Cordelia whirled around on Doyle. "Hey, this is so not my fault. It just happened. How was I to know what Vail was, well, exactly what he was. I knew he was bad."

"Illyria your choice?" he asked as he approached her.

"No. I got overruled on that one. Higher ups wanted to even the playing field. Guess they were right."

"Yep," Doyle agreed as he started to massage her shoulders. "So now they know about the power thing."

"So. You gave me those nasty visions in the first place," she sarcastically let him know.

"Indeed I did," he replied as he hit a sensitive spot on her neck.

"Which I have never forgiven you for."

"Keep talkin', sweetheart," he said as his hands worked on her lower back.

"I need to talk to Angel. And make it up to Wes. There's so much work to do."

"Not now."

"Huh? Now is the best time."

Doyle turned Cordy to look her in the eye. "Not now. I think our little Ms. Slays a Lot has first dibs on the Watcher Boy. And Angel can brood all he wants. Serves him right."

"Don't blame him."

"I'm not blamin' anyone."

"Uh huh."

Doyle silenced her by pulling her in for a heart-stopping kiss. Well, if she had a heart that was beating, it would have been heart-stopping. At least it made her think more pleasant thoughts. She still needed to talk to the two jerks. No matter how mad each of them might be at her right then, she still loved them. She was fairly certain they still loved her.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Go away," Faith groaned as Wesley encountered her outside.

It was now dark enough so they could see the stars in the sky. Wesley had missed this about being in England, in the countryside. One could never see this many stars in Los Angeles.

"I wasn't looking for you."

"OK, fine. Just go away."

"Now that you're here," he started.

Faith tackled him to the soft, wet ground. "You don't seem to listen well, now do ya?"

"If you would so kindly get up, then I can get the bloody hell out of your life."

The intake of air from Faith said it all. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut and be on his way?

"Fine," she answered as she swiftly got up from the ground.

Wesley sat up on the ground, but didn't move further. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Oh, then tell me what you meant. You're so smart and all."

He was smart? She thought that he was the smart one here? But instead he laughed a little. The situation didn't call for a laugh, but it came out anyway.

"And a fucking jerk," she added.

"Yes, add that to the list of my crimes, would you? Now I'll be off."

As he arose from the ground, he noticed Faith wipe away a tear. It wasn't something she did in front of many people. But he saw it. She must be upset beyond measure if she was actually crying.

"This is not how I envisioned things happening between us."

"There is no us," Faith declared.

There was an us, he had concluded. There was something between the two of them that nothing could break. Ever since he saw her that first time in the Sunnydale High library, there had been something between them and it wasn't just the Watcher/Slayer relationship.

"Did you mean what you said?" he blurted out, not sure whether this was the best time to be talking about her feelings or his feelings for that matter. He had just wanted to forget it all and get drunk.

"When? When I called you a fucking jerk? Meant that one."

"You know very well to what I am referring."

Faith started to pass him by, to leave before it got too heavy for her. But he wouldn't let her. Grabbing her arm, he spun her around until he was face-to-face with her. Even in the moonlight, he could see her expression of anger and pain.

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked again.

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Faith had always leveled with him. People lied to him, used him left and right, but Faith never lied to him about her feelings. He was almost shaking as he lowered his head to hers, devouring her lips with his. This wasn't what he had intended when he had taken off by himself. The cool night air and the solitude had cleared his head. Now he just wanted to feel, no thinking, no planning, just Faith in front of him.

At first, she resisted his attempts at reconciliation. Then as he deepened the kiss, taking her head in his hands, she acquiesced and poured out her feelings into that very thing.

As they finally came up for air, Wesley looked down at her again. "I'm not second best," she confessed.

"Neither am I."

"You don't love me," she went on.

"Have you asked me?"

"You loved her."

"Past tense, my love."

Faith visibly swallowed at his term of endearment.

"Not over her yet."

"I so desperately want you under me," he said as he dove in for another kiss.

This time, she didn't resist.

"I'm not having sex with you," she groaned out as he sucked gently on her neck.

"No, not at all," he let her know as his hands moved over her body.

"Not going to tell you that I love you ever again," Faith replied as she ripped the buttons off his shirt.

"Never," he sighed as her hands gently moved over his skin. "I want you. I love you. Don't leave me," he finally said, making Faith stop her attentions.

"What did you just say? Because if it's true, then fine. But don't say it just to say it."

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Faith looked him deep in the eyes, like she was trying to see into his soul. The only other being to ever try that was Angel. And Angel had lied to him more times than he could count.

"You told me what I needed to know when I needed to know it. You never pulled your punches. Never held back."

"You were never second best in my book. You're Faith. Never Buffy, never Cordelia, you couldn't be Fred, nor would I want you to be Lilah. You were never a lie. Not that I didn't make mistakes with you."

Faith laughed a little. "Hey, preachin' to the choir here. You saw me for what I was and still came back for more. Even Angel hasn't done that every time. You trusted me finally."

That's what it came down to in her book. The matter of trust between the two of them. He trusted her to help him out in his time of need. She trusted him to lead her there. Now they were on equal footing. And would stay on equal footing if he had any say so in the matter. All the things that had been said back in that room to Fred seemed to have been lifted slowly from his heart, making him feel a little lighter and less broody.

"I don't want you to be my Watcher."

"Nor do I want to be one to you. Or you my Slayer."

"Team?" Faith asked as she stuck out her hand.

"Team," Wesley announced very formally as he took her warm one in his.

"Sorry I ruined your shirt. It's just, it's been so long."

Wesley chuckled a little. He didn't know whether he'd be able to keep up with her if they started down that path.

"Indeed it has. For both of us. But it's getting cold and it's damp."

"Wuss," she chided.

"Excuse me?" he shot back.

"A moment ago, you were all hot and heavy and raring to go. Now it's all about the comfort," she mocked.

He moved faster than he thought he could at that moment, but he had her down and on the wet grass before she could so much as blink.

"Comfy?" he asked as he fit his body perfectly over hers.


	10. Not Another One

Chapter Ten-Not Another One

"They're gone."

"Kind of figured that they'd bug out faster than we did."

Angel shook his head in amazement. Wes and Faith had baled on he and Spike. Now they'd have to find their own ride to wherever they were going. Where in hell were they going? He didn't want to think about the planning.

"We should bail."

Spike actually looked sad. He actually would not look Angel in the eyes. Women. Well, one woman.

"Willow?" Why was he asking?

"Oh no, no. It's just we should start looking for gainful employment. Blood's not cheap."

Hell yeah to that. Spike was lying though. Women.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ouch."

"Told ya you were getting old."

"Don't remind me of that inevitability."

Everything hurt on Wes. Almost everything. Loving a slayer would definitely not be easy, especially when this one would never be still. He had more elbows and more knees in places he wouldn't ever have imagined.

"Would you like to kiss it and make it better?" Faith asked him in a terrible, sing-song voice.

He giggled. Out and out giggled. He hadn't giggled in so long he didn't think it was possible. Faith had made him giggle. The scowl on her face made him pull back just a little.

Wes was in a compromising position right now. If he made her too angry, he might just add to his bruises. Faith sat up directly on top of him, making him groan in other ways.

"Is all you think about is sex?"

He giggled again. "Well, it just here we are. We're completely naked. We broke into some bloke's cottage to have wild, passionate sex just after vanquishing a nasty bad guy. Seemed to be a little funny."

Faith moved her body over his.

"We'll never get out of here if you keep that up." She would be the death of him.

"Laugh it up, Watcher boy. Because you ain't seen nothin' yet."

"Just be careful. I'm still quite sore."

And happy as he'd ever been in his life.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cordy had hid from the others, to gather herself. They all had assumed that she was this take charge, independent woman of means (hey, Power). How many times had she wanted just to curl up in a ball and let everything go to hell? Too many times to count. She needed to fix this with her friends.

She couldn't risk it. The Powers were already questioning her methods, contemplating reassigning her to another more, could you say, less stressful post. That would mean that someone else would take over here and she'd be pushing paper. Whatever passed for paper in this realm that is.

She wanted this job. She needed this job. It was hers, dammit and she'd fight to keep it. The mess that she made while doing it could not be ignored. Giving Wes those powers (something she couldn't take back) had never been in her plans. It just happened. He had needed them to survive. The dumbass just didn't get it in time and Vail went around her and gave him "all" of the powers, including the bad ones. What the hell was she going to do now? She definitely wasn't going to kill Wes again. Who knows where he'd end up this time?

She hoped that Giles could figure out a way to help Wes. If not, she'd have to deal with it herself. Taking Wes away from Faith was a last resort. If and when this happened, it wouldn't be pretty. But she had some faith in Giles and that big, old brain of his.

Shakily, Cordy got up, stretched and got down to work. Her report would include most of the screw-ups she had made. They didn't need to know everything.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anything?" Willow paced behind Giles. She didn't mean to throw off his concentration by asking him a million questions.

"I will tell you when I have something," he answered for the millionth time.

"Just wondering," she mumbled to herself.

She had paced, bounced on her toes, stood on her head, did everything in her power to not get in Giles's way. If she could just keep her mouth shut, he possibly would tell her when he had something.

"Willow, do sit down."

Abruptly stopping in her tracks, she covered her face with her hair, hoping that he wouldn't see her disappointment.

"I am sorry to be short with you, it's just I definitely think I'm on to something."

Willow jumped up and down. "Goody."

Giles rolled his eyes a little. "Yes, goody. Go find whoever might be left, including the two lovebirds."

Lovebirds? Oh, he meant Wes and Faith. If she could find them. She hadn't seen either one of them since the night before. It had been way too quiet too. She hoped that everyone hadn't left while they were holed up in the library. Giles wouldn't let her touch any of the tomes before him because he said that they were cursed. She'd show him cursed when this was all over.

"Errandgirl I am. Back in a jiffy."

He didn't even look up when she slammed the heavy door in her wake. "Men."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You guys leaving?"

Crap, she caught them. Spike thought they'd get out of Dodge before Buffy had a chance to see him again.

"Yeah, well, we probably should get out of your hair," Angel told her.

"Yeah, about that. You are so not gonna leave until you explain every bit of this. It's just like you to leave before the powwow."

History. Angel bugged out on her without even a goodbye long ago. He guessed that his history with her wasn't any better. Spike left to gain a soul while Angel left to keep his soul. That was her fault, by the way. Reminding her of that might get him punched.

"It seemed a little tense around here. I just thought…"

"No, you just didn't think. Typical."

Buffy crossed her arms, feet spread apart like she wanted to spar with Angel. He'd love to see a good round between the two of them. Might do the poof good to fight someone who could kick his ass into the ground.

"Buffy, it's complicated."

Mr. Complicated, meet Ms. I Don't Care About That Excuse. Buffy scowled his way.

"Listen, you kids have a talk. I'll be right outside." Spike looked outside. The sun was still shining. Outside was not a good idea. "I'll just find a quiet place."

Buffy pointed to Spike. "Don't even think about it, mister. You are so on my hit list too."

Spike was not amused, but gave her the "Me?" look. "Along for the ride, Buffy. I'm just the muscle here."

"Bullshit," Angel spit out.

The front door abruptly swung open, making both Spike and Angel jump to the sides of the room. Spike hated doors that faced west. At least he could tell that the sun was going to set soon. Then he'd be on his way to bigger and better things.

"Oops. Didn't know the two of you were standing there," Faith said as she swung it shut.

The grins that the Watcher and Faith had on their faces were just sickening. Angel's eyebrows went up while Buffy's mouth stood open. Spike decided the best course of action would be to make a gagging sound and point to his mouth like he was going to upchuck. The sickening display of affection between the watcher and the slayer ought to be banned just because it was too sweet.

"OK," Angel said to break the tension in the room.

With just that word, Wes tensed up too. If the two of them didn't work out their differences, he'd bash both of their heads together.

"Where might Giles be?" Wes asked.

"Library. He and Willow are researching," Buffy explained, moving closer to Angel.

Yeah, researching. More like those two who just came in the door, he thought.

"Not so much with the researching," Willow called from the stairs. "Giles doesn't think I can help."

The sulk that came out in Willow's voice hurt him to the core. Willow always helped with the research with the Scooby gang. What the hell was Giles's problem?

"He's really not been that nice to you, pet, now has he," Spike agreed, trying to sympathize with the witch.

Faith then made her own gagging noises. His middle finger gave way to her middle finger.

"Children. Enough with the posturing. I assume that Giles has found something in those tomes that are probably cursed, which is why he doesn't want Willow near them," Wes said as he moved forward to follow Willow back to the library.

"Yeah, I guess," Willow sighed.

"What are you? Two? Get over it, Willow," Xander announced as he came into the room.

Not that woman again. Clarisse had attached herself to Xander's side too. This romance thing is for the birds, he thought. Sex was so overrated.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Giles wasn't sure he comprehended what he was reading, but it didn't sound good. There may not be anything he could do about Wesley for the moment. His power was in a controlled state. That he was sure. It was inevitable that one day something would set him off and the world would be destroyed. It either said that or Wesley was bound to save the world. Tricky translations made his head spin.

The bickering children could be heard as they came down the hall. He heard Faith's loud voice challenging Buffy, mixed with Xander saying he'd love to see that happen, mixed in with Wesley's not in this lifetime, along with Spike's laughter and Angel's growl. Kids these days.

As they all filed into the library, Giles pulled his glasses into his hands to stall. He wiped and he wiped until Buffy cleared her throat for him to get on with it. He'd do what he must.

"The solution that presented itself isn't exactly what I had anticipated."

Wes straightened himself up to full height, like he wanted to take the news like a man. The old Wesley would have slumped over into a mass of jello.

"Good or bad, Rup," Faith asked as she took Wes's hand in hers.

"Both. The translation isn't forgiving. I believe I will have to do more research. I do know this, Wesley. For the moment, you are not a danger, unless you lose control."

Now he saw the shoulders slumping, if just a little. "What must I do for this not to happen?"

"I have no idea other than what you are doing at the moment. It could be any number of factors. You gained some knowledge from our previous visitors. You have learned to control the power that you possess. Cordelia might have given you some knowledge."

"No. Nothing from Cordelia," Wesley spit out.

Giles wasn't going to go there. "It could be this place. I just don't know."

It could be Faith, but Giles didn't know that for sure. For her to have a calming effect on him just might be the ticket. The slayer could have that kind of connection with her watcher. He fondly looked over at Buffy. She had pulled him out of one mess after another. Her small smile his way helped, if just a little.

"I think it's best to return to London, consult any more texts that I can find," Giles started.

"Burnt to a crisp," Angel whispered to Spike.

"I have my sources, Angel," he continued. "I'd like for you to accompany me, Wesley."

Faith stepped in front of Wesley, like she was protecting him. Good for her, Giles thought. Bad for him.

"To help with the research, Faith."

"Oh. I just thought that you'd shackle him up somewhere and throw away the key. Kind of like what you wanted to do with me."

And if he had done this in the first place, Faith would have been stopped from joining with the Mayor. Things would have been different for all of them. Better though? Probably not. Giles didn't necessarily believe in fate, but sometimes you just had to roll with the punches.

"Me," Willow said while raising her hand. "Research. My specialty."

Giles was more concerned with Willow than he was with Wesley. His connection to her was much stronger. They fed off of each other. Granted it was Ethan's fault for the most part. Giles was still sore in many places from being slammed up against a wall. In the end, it was Willow who knew how to use her power the best. He just didn't want to see her get hurt.

"Indeed. We all should go to London."

"To read books?" Buffy asked as they all made their way to the door of the library.

"Kind of have to read books to research, Buff," Angel replied to her.

"I'll be on guard duty then," she answered. "My specialty."


	11. Not Again

Chapter Eleven—Not Again

Buffy's sigh was really getting on his nerves, Angel thought. Good grief, if Giles didn't find something soon, he may have to reach over and, well, he probably shouldn't hit her, but he wanted to.

"What is taking them so long?" she whined.

Angel certainly remembered the fact that young Buffy could really work up to a humongous whine when she wanted. He thought that Buffy was gone. Apparently not.

"They'll be done when they're done. It could take days, weeks. Who knows?"

Buffy turned her head sharply to his declaration. "Better not."

"Listen, Buffy. About what happened with Mark. I am really sorry it didn't work out for you this time."

Buffy sat on a stone wall not five feet from him. She nearly fell off as she tried to get up and possibly go after him. He could only chuckle a little. Only just a little.

"Work out? Ouch. Stupid stone. Just my luck. I'm sitting here with Mr. Insensitive, waiting to find out if my best friend is gonna go all Chernobyl on me."

Angel then got up from his perch, not falling down mind you, to challenge her. When had Buffy looked so tiny before? She must not be eating. But that was beside the point.

"Insensitive? It's my best friend who might just lose it and destroy the world. All you can think about is yourself."

Oops, that didn't come out right, Angel thought. Buffy looked like she was ready to cry. He always did that to her.

"Myself? I'm worried about Willow. I'm worried about Giles. Hey, I'm even worried about Faith. Wesley, not so much, other than to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else I love."

Now the two of them were toe-to-toe. She had gotten smaller. When Buffy was a teenager, even though she was powerful enough to kick his ass, she still was rounder, softer than this Buffy standing in front of him.

"He's not going to hurt anyone, Buff."

He knew that she didn't believe him because of her cross-the-arms stance she was now sporting. Why didn't she trust Wesley? Of course, she hadn't been around him in a long, long time. She didn't realize all the suffering and sacrifices he had to make in the past few years.

"How do I know that? What about Faith? What do you think he'll do to Faith if something goes wrong?"

Buffy had a point. Faith would definitely be in the line of fire if Wesley did lose control of those powers that Cordelia had granted him. He sort of wished that Cordy hadn't told him all that. He wanted to throttle her at the moment. Since he couldn't touch Cordy, he guessed that wouldn't happen, if ever.

The fact that Buffy actually might care about Faith had him staring at his former lover. Faith was the woman who tried to kill her not once, but several times. There was no love lost between the two women. When had Buffy and Faith become friends?

"One question?" Angel asked as he put one finger up to emphasize that it was very important to get an answer. "When in hell did you and Faith become friends?"

"She um, well, you see. I guess I hadn't thought about it that much until now. She kinda grows on you."

Angel literally snorted, with Buffy quickly following suit. "Kind of like Spike."

"Yeah, kind of like that."

The two had moved very close to one another. Angel was always tempted by Buffy. Her smell, her touch, her eyes. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her. But things had changed between the two of them. People came in between the two of them. Circumstances ruined any chance the two of them ever had. And then there was Cordelia Chase, who even though dead, stood between the two of them in his heart. Had he moved on to bigger and better things? Buffy was standing right in front of him. Cordy was not.

As he reached out to touch her face, Buffy stopped him cold and slapped his hand away.

"Don't. I've gone down that path way too many times. Men and vampires really do suck, and no, not literally. I can't deal with any more complications right now."

There, she said it. Buffy was always very straight forward with him, even when contemplating cookie dough. The analogy had taken a while for him to figure out, but he did.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I really am."

Buffy's intake of breath said it all. She didn't want Angel back in her life any time soon. Not that he was offering it. His life was more complicated than he could have ever imagined it would be.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is so complicated," Willow surmised attempting to read another difficult translation. Her eyes were almost crossing. "Break time."

Giles mumbled to her from across the table. Wesley didn't even respond. He kept scribbling on his notepad. This was why she was never cut out to be a watcher. The research would kill her. Not that she didn't like to read books and gather knowledge. She just wanted answers quickly. There wasn't a quick answer to any of this. Too many damn questions.

Faith stood on her head near the door. Her eyes were closed, but Willow knew if anything were to happen, she'd be awake and kicking butt in nanoseconds. The idea that Faith was actually in a library was kind of funny.

"Hey, how about some food? Food, anyone?"

Wesley mumbled to her. It sounded like the word sure, but she wasn't sure.

"Okie dokie. I'll be back. Faith, food?" Willow asked as she headed toward the door.

"Yeah. Bring me whatever," Faith said as her legs dropped to the floor. "These two will be at it forever. And if I don't feed him, he won't even remember to eat."

Willow knew that she was talking about Wesley. She was right about one thing, if they didn't feed the researchers, they probably wouldn't eat.

Faith waved to her to hurry up. Why had she become ErrandGirl? She definitely wasn't the girl who ran errands. She was Willow, powerful witch. Wouldn't it have been nice to be able to conjure up some sandwiches? Soup?

As she left the researchers to their research, she contemplated looking up a spell to do this. Giles might not be happy about it, but it certainly would come in handy in these times.

"Hello, Red."

Dammit all to hell, Spike was outside the room. She'd forgotten about that. They all were taking shifts. Well, all of them except for Xander. Where was he and why did he not get guard duty?

"I was just going on a food run," she sighed.

"I'm getting a bit peckish myself."

Ick, she thought, knowing exactly what he ate for meals. Every time he added crunch to it, it made her stomach turn just a little. She couldn't get over the fact that the vampire in front of her was the same vampire that went up in a blaze of glory. The hair may be different, but he certainly still acted like the same old Spike.

"The researchers are getting hungry."

Spike followed her through the vacant corridors of the Watchers' Council. It was really late when they had arrived back, but Giles still insisted on starting their research immediately. She didn't blame the man one bit. The bandage on her arm proved that it could have been worse at the witches' coven. Someone could have gotten killed, including her. How they managed to take down Ethan, she still couldn't figure out. Her mind was still a bit fuzzy on that.

"So, you and Giles," Spike started.

Oh, he so didn't want to go there. He'd be sporting a mighty fine bruise upside the head if he really went there. Her heart constricted a little thinking about Kennedy and that mess. She didn't have time for anyone else in her life. Did she?

"Me and Giles what?" she countered as they walked down the corridors to the kitchen.

"It's just, the two of you seem cozy."

What on earth was Spike talking about? Cozy? How? Why was he fishing for answers?

"Spike, I work with him," she said as he opened the door to the kitchen for her.

"Yeah, and Buffy worked with Angel. So what."

Boy was he getting defensive. A romance between her and Giles would probably never work out. He was too stubborn and pigheaded for one. And two, he didn't even really like her that way, did he? Oh man. Stupid Spike had to make her brain go on overload thinking about it.

"Giles isn't exactly my type," Willow told him as she opened the refrigerator.

"Do you have a type, Red?"

Did she? Well, no, she didn't. For the longest time she thought that she was gay. But her relationship with Oz hadn't been a fluke. She had truly and deeply loved him. Girls, guys, it didn't matter to her. What mattered was the person.

Spike handed her the bread, taking a slice for himself. Not thinking bad thoughts, she chanted a little in her brain. Only he didn't let the bag go. So that's where he was going with all the questions.

"Um, Spike."

Spike moved closer to her. No way, she thought. Guys like him didn't like girls like her. They killed girls like her. Well, at least Spike used to do that sort of thing. Before Buffy happened. That stopped her cold.

"What was that?" Spike asked as he stopped his forward momentum.

She hadn't done a thing except stand still, hoping that he'd change his mind and move on to other things. Then she heard the noise too. Whatever or wherever it was coming from, they should probably investigate. But before they could make it out of the kitchen, the windows blew in, raining glass everywhere. Spike tackled her to the floor before she could move any further.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith had an itch. Whether it was to slay or not, she didn't know. This watching two guys research was for the birds. Standing on her head didn't help, meditating didn't help. She thought maybe she'd find Buffy and go a few rounds. Angel could babysit the two watchers for a while. Heck, it was the middle of the night. What could happen?

Last night, a lot happened and it was all good. At least that itch didn't need to be scratched right then and there. Wes was lucky to be walking that morning. Faith was so glad he came to his senses, finally. Their dance around each other had gotten boring in addition to pissing her off immensely. Watcherboy finally saw the light.

Of course, it all didn't mean squat if she went and messed it all up. Wes turned to look at her. He had his nose buried in those books for hours. Although he didn't smile at her, she saw those little crinkles right beside his eyes. Thank goodness they couldn't read each other's minds. Her thoughts of stripping him right in front of Giles and having her way with him might turn him beet red. His eyes widened a little, probably because she grinned at him. He knew her all too well.

Instead of stuffing his nose right back in that musty book, Wes got up and headed her way. She noticed that Giles rolled his eyes, but got right back to work. Taking her arm, Wes led her out of the library into the corridor. The corner that he chose was isolated and dark. Boy, were they on the same wavelength or what.

She immediately latched onto his neck, eliciting a little moan from him. But instead of joining in on the fun, Wes stopped her.

"Faith, you have to promise me something," he whispered to her, trying to catch his breath.

"Whatever," she smiled up at him.

"If the time comes, I want you to do it. If I..," he started to explain to her.

She wrenched away from him. Faith knew exactly what he asked. Not gonna happen.

"You are not gonna lose it. Do you hear me?" she told him as she pointed directly at him.

"As far as we can tell, there is nothing that can take away the power that Vail gave to me. The good and the bad, in which case was probably mostly bad."

Oh good grief, he was babbling again. Instead of letting him go on and on, telling her that she needed to f'ing kill him if he went ballistic, she pulled him to her roughly and shut him up the only way she knew how. He kissed her like his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

The blast that came next pushed them against the outer wall, hard. Wes took the brunt of it, but it was her head that cracked as they hit the concrete. Luckily they weren't that close to the great, big ball of flame that accompanied the blast. That would have hurt and probably would have killed them.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel didn't have time to react, only try to save Buffy. Digging through the rubble, he hoped that he was in time to save her. Super human strength was on his side. He quickly found where she lay. Fortunately her head wasn't crushed, but her arm didn't look too good. The fire had been intense, but had blown away from them. Unfortunately the rubble from the blast had not. Someone was going to pay for hurting her.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh crap, Fred thought. Crap, crap and double crap. Spike had just saved Willow from being cut to shreds. He must have tons of pieces of glass in his back as it was. Her scream of anguish brought Lindsey running into the room.

"What happened?"

"Someone just blew up the Watchers' Council, again."


	12. Live and Let Live

Chapter Twelve—Live and Let Live

Six Months Later

Fred arranged and rearranged her desk, hoping that if she did this enough, then her anxiety would disappear. Floating around the ether had been easier in a way. She couldn't really contemplate actually getting out of that mess, while being here sometimes just made her so mad. Poor Lindsey was usually the recipient of those tirades.

Since Cordelia had taken to being alone these days, she had Lindsey to keep her company. They never did get around to assigning him someone. That must have slipped Cordy's mind too. Doyle tried to pick up the slack, but he wasn't exactly Mr. Organization around the house. Fred tried as hard as she could, but there was just too much to do and not enough time to do it. Spike really did keep one busy.

Spike. She did have to admit that his heart was on the mend. He did seem to be happy now, where even six months ago, he thought that all was lost. Oh, six months. Fred certainly didn't want to be reminded of that time.

She had never heard Cordy scream so loud in her life. Watching it all through Angel's eyes, everyone found out that they were definitely getting another helper. Life wasn't fair. Ending up where they did really wasn't fair either. They were all neither here nor there. Heaven, hell. What did it all mean?

No harps, no fire pit of doom. Just endless work, a few hours of enjoyment, then back to the grind. At least when one was alive, you could run away from it all occasionally. Here, you couldn't, unless you were Cordelia Chase.

Fred sighed again, bringing her down mood to the attention of Lindsey. He frowned right back at her, probably catching her surliness. That was not her intention.

"This sucks," she announced as she got up from her desk.

"You can say that again," Lindsey replied as he started to join her.

"We need to do something. This just isn't right. Six months. Time to kick some butt."

Lindsey stuck up his hands in defeat. Would he join her in her little intervention? Or would he wuss out and let her deal with it herself? Maybe she'd employ another tacit. Otherwise, things would go on as they had. She'd sweet-talked, she'd played the nursemaid, she'd listened, she'd cried alongside, she'd done everything in her power to fix it all, or at least make it a little better. Now was the time for drastic measures.

"Drastic measures?" Lindsey inquired as he followed her out the door.

"Darn tootin' drastic measures. I'm tired of this shit."

Lindsey raised his eyebrows at her swearing. She only swore when there was no other choice. It looked like there was no other choice.

Slamming doors and trampling on flowers, Fred made her way to the cottage where all this had started what seemed like so long ago.

"Cordelia Chase, you get your behind down here right this instant."

Fred waited for her response but it never came.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Darn tootin' I mean business."

Willow always thought she meant business, but sometimes her tirades just fell flat. Everyone stared at her, like she'd snap her fingers and all would be known to them.

"I don't get it."

They never did. None of the potentials, or baby slayers or whatever they were being called now ever got it, at least the first time. They didn't understand the history, nor did they want to until a light bulb went off in their heads. Or someone whomped them upside the head. It was usually the latter.

"If you don't want to do the work, read the material, then why are you here?"

Megan, the eager-beaver-wants-to-please slayer, raised her hand high. Willow hated calling on her. No one else volunteered though. Even though she saw a lot in Megan that was so much like her at sixteen, it didn't mean that she liked it one bit. Being reminded of one's youth didn't make it any easier to deal with at the moment.

"We're here to learn the history of slayers and why they were called. If we don't know the history, then we just might repeat mistakes that were made in the past."

Yeah, lots and lots of mistakes made. Buffy wasn't in the room, so she could take a little liberty with that. Faith might laugh, or pound her into the ground.

"And so the mistake that was made…" Willow trailed off when she saw a familiar person peek through the glass in the window of the door. He's always interrupting.

"Go on, Megan. What was the mistake in this instance?"

Spike entered with a flourish, black coat sweeping around him, making a few of the baby slayers sigh. THAT was the mistake. Slayers and vampires DO NOT mix.

"I'll tell you what the mistake was. Trusting a vampire? Not a great idea."

Willow snorted when she heard that comment come from Spike. Buffy had been lucky that time, trusting Spike. Didn't mean that he still wasn't the bad guy at that point. Chip kept him in line.

"Is it true though that if you had not been altered, you would have never joined forces with the slayer?"

Oh boy, now Ms. Know-It-All had to go and ask that question. Laurel thought that she knew it all, but Willow knew she knew how to ask the right questions. She thought.

Spike leaned onto Willow's desk, crossed his arms just so, and turned his head, probably just to show his best profile to the students.

"That about sums it up. Class dismissed."

Wait, what? What did Spike think he was doing? She wasn't done. They had at least thirty minutes left in their session. Then she was going to meet the "new" girl in Accounting for lunch. Bastard hijacked her class, again. Spike just loved to do that.

"I wasn't done," Willow stated as the baby slayers got up from their seats to leave.

A few lingered, just to make sure it was OK, but for the most part, they all headed out to their next class, Combat. Spike's class. Jerk.

When the last girl was out of earshot, Willow turned to Spike and pointed her finger in his direction. She made angry face, but Spike just waited until her temper cooled. It didn't take long.

"Ok, now, as I was saying before," Spike started as Willow slammed her books down on her desk. Well, maybe the anger had disappeared, maybe not. "I don't think that the Calculator Lady is good enough for you."

He was scaring another one away. Willow wished he would just stay out of her life. He had managed to scare away at least three people, when all they wanted to do was be friends. Why was he being a jerk?

"Spike, go away."

"It's just, I don't see the connection. And also, she was flirting with the new Watcher, Charlie, Chuck, whatever his name is."

This is what he would do, she thought. Every single time, he'd sabotage even the first date. Not this time.

"Cameron. And no, she was not flirting. How could you know?"

"Supernatural hearing. And the fact that I just saw the two of them leave the building hand and hand."

Dammit. It happened again. Unlucky in love. Spike was a curse. Willow was hungry for lunch, didn't have a date and was damn tired of being told by a vampire that she couldn't date anyone. Willow guessed that her lunch date was off.

"Wanna go out for a bite?" Spike asked as he headed to the exit of the room.

"One, you have class, remember? Two, you come in here to tell me that my date just cancelled lunch. Three, you weren't very nice doing it. Four," Willow kept going.

"Oh four. Giles wants to meet with us, for lunch. Can you make sure he closes the blinds in his office? Nearly fried me the last time we had lunch with him."

Willow didn't need Giles telling her what to do either. Sometimes she just wished she would tell them all to go jump in a lake, Giles especially. Maybe she'd just go out and have lunch by herself.

"Mandatory," Spike told her as he opened the door.

Willow couldn't throw the tome she had in her hands at Spike, it was too heavy. So she winged it at his head with magic. He moved too fast, ducking out the door as she watched the book slam into the glass, breaking it.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You broke it."

"Sorry. I just, it's hard to pull back."

"You must learn control."

Wesley sighed again. He was beyond frustrated. Faith wasn't concentrating on anything lately except for slaying. She had left water on to boil and almost burned the kitchen down. She threw another slayer through a window, causing the girl to go to the infirmary for three days with cuts and bruises. Now she broke a priceless object that he had been studying that could possibly help them in their most recent quest for answers.

He hadn't meant to shout at her, but as he watched her withdraw, he knew that it was more than just his anger that made her antsy. Slayer lore was always a subject Wesley thought was sometimes off the mark. Slayers couldn't predict the future; they didn't know when evil was mounting an offensive. Or could they? Buffy had easily predicted the rise of the First. Faith knew that he had died and that something evil was responsible. If there was a way to tap into that energy, he'd love to be able to study it. First things, first. They had a job to do.

In addition to all the changes in their lives in the past few months, their relationship was rocky at best, volatile at its worst. He knew that caring about her wouldn't be easy. Wesley just didn't realize how difficult it could be.

"I need to punch something. This is just so frustrating. We need to fix this," Faith growled.

Instead of listening to Wesley to calm down, Faith turned around to the nearest wall and put a hole through it. All that time that they had spent training, all the time they had spent working as a team was falling apart oh so quickly. Faith's cheek twitched just a little as she pulled her hand back through. It was covered in blood.

"Oh dear," Wesley exclaimed as he looked at all the blood.

Instead of grunting in pain, showing him that she knew something was wrong, she just smiled.

"No biggie," she proclaimed as she strolled out of the room. Wesley watched as Faith held her hand down, a trail of blood following in her wake.

Who had taken his slayer, his Faith and replaced her with this, whatever she was? She was acting way too much like the old Faith, the one that turned evil, joined the Mayor and tried to kill Buffy. He wanted his Faith back and would fight to get her back there.

First things, first, yet again. A sample of her blood might give him some insight.


	13. The End of Me

Chapter Thirteen—The End of Me

"She's gone?"

"Apparently. When Willow went to check in on her, her things were gone."

Wesley couldn't believe what he was hearing. Faith and he had their problems in the past, but neither had bailed on the other in recent memory. Now she had disappeared.

"Wesley, one other thing? Faith had discussed with me possibly changing her watcher status."

Wesley felt that knife dig deeper into his soul. Faith wanted out, of everything. That she couldn't talk to him, discuss with him their issues, that was the fatal blow.

The sun shone brightly into Giles's office, almost blinding Wesley, making his eyes water just ever so slightly. Showing emotion in front of Giles wasn't necessary. He'd grieve Faith's loss in private, like any Wyndam-Pryce had been taught throughout history. Emotions were for the weak; his father would often tell him as he locked the door underneath the stairs. You must learn discipline.

Wesley did learn discipline and more. Now wasn't the time to fall apart.

"What was your answer?" he asked, like Giles really had a say-so in the matter.

"I told her that I would take it under advisement. I also told her that she shouldn't be making any rash decisions. The emotions of the last six months must be clouding her judgment."

Wesley snorted at that. The emotions of the last year certainly didn't help matters. Faith had finally settled somewhat while she was located in Cleveland. His death had unsettled her in more ways than one. It was all his fault.

"If you're thinking that this was all your fault, just unthink that Wesley. Particularly after Xander's death…," Giles stopped after this statement.

It had been difficult for all of them to accept the fact that Xander Harris, while not innocent in anything that they had done and accomplished in the last ten years, would not be with them to see the next ten. He had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mark would certainly pay for that once he was caught and brought to justice.

Wesley thought that Buffy and Willow would be the ones to collapse after their best friend had passed. Indeed, there had been rough patches for the both of them, particularly Willow. In the past month, Willow had shown that she had matured as a person and was feeling like joining the real world again. Buffy had leaned on Giles more, but in the end, her anger and frustration had poured out in her slaying.

Faith, on the other hand, had become more withdrawn. At first, Wesley thought he could console her. In the end, she had pushed him away, for good apparently.

Standing, Wesley paced the room, wanting to explain to Giles that Faith getting a new watcher was out of the question. These things couldn't be changed on a whim.

"I know that being her watcher cannot be changed on a whim," Giles concluded, letting his other comment hang in the air. "But I do realize that sometimes a change is necessary. She does need some kind of support, backup if you will. If the two of you do not trust each other, I do think it might be wise if you take a leave of absence."

Temporary leave of absence? Was Giles out of his mind? Looking at the man, Wesley realized that Giles was not crazy. Giles possibly was the only person looking at the situation with objectivity. He certainly was not.

Wesley didn't know how to answer Giles. Did he give up on Faith? Let her make the decisions in their partnership? It wasn't like she was asking him his permission to do this. She asked Giles. And left him to clean up the mess instead of confronting Wesley head on.

"Fine," was all Wesley could get out before there was a knock at the door.

Before Giles could say "Just a minute," Wesley's father opened the door without a pardon or a sorry to disturb you. Typical.

"Rupert. I must discuss an urgent matter with you. It is of the utmost importance."

His father ignored his presence completely. It was almost like he was invisible.

"Roger, I am in a meeting, as you see. If you make an appointment, I will most certainly get back to you."

Wesley could see his father's blood boil, watching as Roger's face pinched up into a look of disgust for Giles and for him.

"This matter will be discussed right this moment. I do believe I have evidence why that person who almost destroyed us, yet again I might add, was able to escape."

Wesley really wanted to strangle his father, just to have him get on with it. He'd love to hear how Mark had escaped and where he was. He'd settle for the first.

"Go on," Giles urged Roger.

"Not with him in the room," Roger announced.

Wesley threw up his hands in disgust. "What on earth would you know that I could not find out? As soon as you left this office, I am sure that Rupert would tell me."

Roger came closer to Wesley. Although his father was now shorter than he, he still was imposing nonetheless. Wesley decided the best course of action was to act much like Angel. Act nonchalant, cross his arms, and hope for a quick exit if all went wrong. It had worked for Angel plenty of times. Maybe half the time, he corrected himself.

"Very well. The evidence shows that you had a hand in helping that bastard escape a prison with no escape. It was your magic, your dark magic that helped him be released into the world to possibly harm our council again."

That was not the answer that he had expected from his father. Any other time, Wesley would have denied all that was said. He would have looked to Giles to defend him. He would have shrunk back into a corner to be beaten down by the one person who knew exactly where to hit him, to make it hurt. All he could do was laugh.

"You have got to be joking," Wesley got out between laughs.

Roger handed Giles his evidence. Giles read through it and read through it several times. Each time, he looked Wesley's way, shaking his head.

"I am not sure where or how this evidence was obtained, but it cannot be true. If it was, then Willow and I would also be suspect."

Roger placed his hands behind his back, pulling himself up to his full height. It was his intimidation factor as Wesley had called it when he was a schoolboy.

"Indeed, it was discussed that the two of you could have been involved."

Giles then snarled at Roger. The evidence in those papers had to be fabricated. Now he knew. Roger would do anything to regain his place on the Watchers' Council, even if that meant sacrificing his own son to the cause.

"The best course of action I think at this time would be to place Wesley under lock and key until we are able to meet and explore our options."

Wesley's fingers tingled. Giles reached out and literally stopped Wesley in his tracks with a hand. He forgot. Giles could feel those dark magicks just as much as he could. Wesley hadn't encountered them in quite some time. Now was not the time for them to burst forth and strangle his father where he stood. That he could do with his bare hands.

"I don't believe that would be necessary. He is a trusted employee of the Council. I can vouch for his conduct."

The door opened to admit two of Roger's henchmen, for lack of a better term. Giles sighed, rolling his eyes at Roger's gesture.

"But I cannot vouch for his conduct. Nor can I vouch for yours. You see, there's been a change in plans. Many on the Council believe that your leadership has been inadequate at best. Rupert, please, for the sake of the Council, I do believe now would be the time to step down, quietly."

Wesley truly wanted to laugh again at his father's antics. It was his father who utterly destroyed the Council in the first place. Giles, along with Buffy, had strengthened their position in the world, had taken on all evil and had survived to tell about it. Roger had hidden himself away until the battle had passed.

"Quietly? Roger, you are quite mistaken. I will not go quietly, nor will I step down for the good of you or any other former Council members. Oh wait, I seemed to forget. You were all that was left, hidden away in some fortress of your own choosing instead of standing to fight against the First."

Willow and Spike chose to walk in without knocking, as usual for Spike. Spike ducked behind the henchmen while Willow lowered the blinds with a flick of the wrist.

"Sorry, didn't know you were in a meeting," Willow announced as Spike elbowed his way past the muscle.

The fact now that there were two more witnesses made Wesley feel a little better at the situation. Of course he and Giles could have taken on his father and the two muscle-bound men standing at the door. But if they had weapons, it might have gotten messy.

"There is no meeting, Willow. These three gentlemen were just leaving," Giles told her as he tried to get Willow to stand directly behind him.

Which meant only one thing. Giles did indeed believe that the evidence in the documents was false and that his father was making a play for taking control, whatever means necessary.

"You're not a nice person," Spike announced to Roger, bumping into him as he made his way over to the three.

"You're a vampire, scourge of the Earth, killer of countless people and who should be staked on sight. These are the kinds of things that I warned everyone about. Once we open ourselves up to this kind of trickery, then…"

"The whole place goes to hell in a handbasket. Tell me something I don't know. Oh, do these happen to belong to you?" Spike held up three handguns.

"Hey, you're good," Willow congratulated Spike on a job well done.

"I could smell 'em a mile away."

The four of them stood against the three by the door. Wesley didn't know how Giles was going to diffuse the situation or if he was. All the slayers in training would look to Giles, as would many of the watchers. But would the new Council? Wesley wasn't sure how they would react to another battle on the grounds of the Council. No, there was another reason why they showed their cards like this. They had something that wasn't in those documents.

Wesley had had enough. His issues with his slayer would have to wait. He knew exactly which card Roger was playing, because in the end, how else would you make a watcher do what you wanted. So instead of using those dark magicks that Roger wanted him to use, to accuse him of using, he decided that he'd draw from a play in Angel's playbook. Except he wasn't a vampire and couldn't use that to his advantage. One of the handguns would do.

Before Giles could react or the henchmen could move, Wesley had Roger up against the wall and a handgun pointed directly at his head. The safety was off, of that he was sure. He had already killed his father once in his lifetime; he could and would do it again to save someone that he loved.

"If you do not tell me where she is, I will not let you live to see another sunrise," he quietly told his father.

"You don't have the guts," his father spit out at him. The henchmen had been subdued by Giles and Spike fairly quickly. So quickly that Wesley hadn't even heard it. He guessed it was the roaring of blood coursing through his veins that probably shut off all his senses but the ones dealing with his ass of a father directly in front of him. He could have been killed by those two.

"Yeah, he does. How many slugs did you put into him the last time?" Spike asked as he sat on one of the henchmen. When the henchman dared to move, Spike slugged him.

"I don't seem to remember much of that night other than stopping whatever tried to harm my friends. Want to tell me what you know about that incident, Father?" Wesley asked him with contempt in his voice.

"I have no knowledge of this incident. You played with evil, boy. And look where it got you?"

This was all so surreal, Wesley thought in the back of his mind. It was like the past six months had not happened. It was like when he came back not quite right after Vail had destroyed him. He wanted to vomit and kill at the same time. But he had learned much in the past few months. His father wasn't worth it, unless something happened to Faith. Then all bets were off.

"I'm not afraid to die. Are you, father?" With that, Wesley stepped away and handed the gun to Giles. Roger was shaking like a leaf. He guessed that he got his point across quite well this time.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel sighed again. The two of them had been at this for what seemed like days. Cordelia would come to him, rant and rave, scold and point, then finally would run out of steam and cry her eyes out. Cordy crying her eyes out wasn't a pretty sight. He couldn't really do anything to comfort her since she wasn't corporeal. That trick must have been removed from her playbook.

"Sometimes I think I should have just let you all burn."

Whoa, now she was getting harsh. It wasn't like he wasn't trying to understand. He did try. He just didn't understand what his role was at the moment. Trying to console a Power was like trying to console a baby that was on a crying jag. Good luck getting either to calm down. They would just have to scream until they fell asleep. In Cordy's case, it would be go back to her dimension.

"What would that have proven?" he asked as she sat down next to him on his bed.

Good, she was finally running out of steam.

"That I hate you all. I didn't ask for this." Cordy threw up her hands, hiding her face. Now came the tears.

"I know you didn't. We've been over this before, Cordy. Do you want to do this anymore?"

Cordelia whipped her head around and glared at him. "I can scream at you all I want, bud."

"No, I mean be a Power. It just seems to be frustrating."

"Damn straight it is, especially with you here."

"And you there." He truly did not want Cordy to be a Power. Was just wanting her back safe and sound, answering phones and filing a bad thing?

"Can't change that," Cordelia responded with a sigh. "This sucks."

"I know."

They both sat together, tense but not at each other's throats. Maybe they were finally over that hump and would move forward. Or she would kill him just to make a point. He liked the former option.

"You should go find Wes."

Angel sat up straight at that comment. He and Wes were getting along a little better, especially with Faith and Spike as a barrier. Any time though the two of them were in a room together, alone, they either glared at each other or yelled at each other. Kind of like what he and Cordy did quite often.

"Is there a reason I should go find Wes?"

"Um, no. It's just, I'm worried about him."

Not like Angel wasn't worried about Wes too. Hey, he could destroy the world if things got out of hand. "You should be," came out before Angel could stop his stupid mouth from opening.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cordy growled back at him. "I've told you a dozen times I didn't mean for it to happen that way. It was Vail's fault."

She did have a part in bringing Wesley back to them, that he admitted. Thank goodness for small favors. He just wished things would go back to normal.

"I know, I'm sorry I brought it up. Should we go back to Los Angeles? I thought maybe a change of scenery might help."

A change of being around tons of slayers and watchers-in-training every single day would help too. The girls were often frightened of being around him and the watchers wary of him. Spike ignored it most of the time, but he couldn't. As Buffy would say, "Awkward much?"

"Just think about your next move, OK? Wish I knew what was going to happen next."

He wished he knew what was going to happen next. Then he could keep all his friends safe from the evil like Mark. When he caught the bastard, he'd pound him into the ground for hurting Buffy like that. As annoying as Xander had been to him, he knew that he meant the world to Buffy. No mercy.

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but it was only a few minutes. Cordelia tapped her foot, fidgeted a little, then stood. She was leaving. And no crying this time. Maybe they were making progress.

"You should go," she announced, looking at him with worry.

"Something's up?" he asked as he stood with her.

"Go, Angel. Something's wrong," Cordy told him as she disappeared into the ether. She was just gone way too abruptly.

Angel didn't waste time, bounding out of his room, running for the path of least resistance; the one where there was no sunlight and ample coverage so he wouldn't burst into flames. He really should talk to Giles about ramping up their security. It sucked.

When he arrived at Giles's office, Wesley was handing a gun to Giles and Roger Wyndam-Pryce was rubbing his neck. Looks like he missed the show.

"Have a nice little nap, Angel?" Spike cajoled as he walked in.

"What happened now?"

"Faith's gone. Apparently my father has seen to it that Faith would vanish without anyone knowing," Wesley explained.

"I had nothing to do with that woman's disappearance."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Willow said as she let one of the henchmen up. Several slayers had arrived to help, relieving Willow and Spike of their duties.

Giles wasn't all that believing either, Angel noticed. "Lock him up. Make sure there are guards on him twenty-four hours a day."

"You're making a big mistake. That bastard Mark had something to do with all this. She's probably working with him also."

Faith wasn't working with Mark. Angel knew that. But he could have had something to do with her disappearance. It was possible that Pryce was right.


	14. Got Your Back

Chapter Fourteen—Got Your Back

"Would you stop that?"

Faith pounded on the door until her hands were bloody, again. The little Watcher just wouldn't stop talking. The only way she could think of blocking out his insistence that she stop was to keep hitting the impenetrable door, harder. She really didn't like being locked up.

"It's not the strength of the door," Sam reminded her.

"I know that. Don't you think I know that?" she growled back, hoping that he would just back off.

"Then let's just think this through so we can get out of here."

There was no getting out of here unless by some miracle someone came down to these dungeons or good old Wes figured out that she hadn't skipped out on him and figured out where she was. Fat chance. No matter how much she tried, everything kept crashing down on her and Wes. This was no exception.

The irony that she was trapped in a dungeon underneath the Watchers' Council definitely wasn't lost on her. If and when she got out of there, there would be no mercy for Mr. Wyndam-Pryce, the elder. It had to be his fault.

Looking down at her hands, Faith wondered why on earth they didn't hurt. She wiped the blood off on her pants, not worrying about that twist. Every punch, every bruise on her body at the moment didn't hurt, at all. So the bastard did something else to her, in addition to catching her unawares. He was going down.

Baby Watcher Sam had been trying to find a way out for hours, ever since the two of them woke up. Faith estimated that they had been trapped for at least a day. With the way things had been going between her and Wes, she thought he'd right about now be concluding that she bailed on him. Did she care? Of course. She'd worked too damn hard to give up on them now. Did he care?

One last punch, Faith slid to the floor in defeat.

"They'll figure out we're gone. It'll take time."

"No, they won't," Faith disagreed, looking around at her stuff thrown all over with a few male additions in between. Whoever had put the whammy on them had also figured out that taking their stuff would make it look like the two of them had run off together.

"There's no water, no food. By the time they figure out we're here, it'll be too late."

Pessimistic Faith looked at the young man in front of her. She regretted stopping to talk to him. He had been concerned at her hand dripping with blood after her confrontation with Wes. After telling Sam to mind his own business, he had followed her for a bit, trying to convince her to go to the infirmary. It was around that time she stumbled, her eyesight getting blurry. She watched as he fell over before her, then two guys rushing in, putting hoods over their heads. Faith had tried to fight, only to get a syringe buried in her neck. She had definitely felt that.

Sam paced the room for the next hour, acting like he was having a conversation with himself. The bleeding had stopped on Faith's knuckles, the blood drying crusty and itchy. Her hips burned from kicking the door though. She wasn't totally numb, not yet at least.

"Is there a way for you to contact Wesley?"

Faith burst out laughing. "Don't you think I would just be sitting here right now if there was?"

The pacing began anew. It really started to piss her off. He abruptly stopped in front of her and pointed.

"Think, Faith. Is there a way? I've been reading about Slayer/Watcher connections, history and such. Sometimes there's such a strong connection, a Watcher can literally communicate with his or her slayer without words. Is there something we can try?"

He was crazy. Sounded like some kind of ESP thing. There was no way they had that type of connection. No way. It's not like they had assigned Wes to her just because they were the right fit. Daddy had everything to do with Wes getting the job. It definitely wasn't his training at the time.

"Do you want to get out of here or what?"

Sam had pushed her too far. Slamming him against the wall, Faith held him up by his neck, feet dangling a few inches off the ground.

"You are really starting to piss me off, ya know?"

She let him dangle a few more seconds, and then dropped him unceremoniously to the ground.

"It's worth a try. We don't have anything else to go on," he croaked out, holding his neck.

Faith leaned headfirst against the cold, damp wall, hoping that it would cool her aching head. She didn't want to look at Sam again. All she wanted was to escape this prison, to see Wes again and tell him how damn sorry she was for acting like a bitch. Placing her hands next to her head, she decided that it would be worth a try. Concentration was never one of her strong suits, but using one of the calming techniques that Willow had taught her, Faith focused on one thing and one thing only: Wesley.

It hurt. It hurt so much that she crumbled to the ground, clutching her head, hoping that the pain went away. Her breathing stopped.

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"Where the hell is she?" Wesley asked Willow, pacing Giles's office.

His father and two henchmen had been taken to the conference room down the hall, guarded by at least a dozen slayers and a few Watchers. No use letting them escape. Something was up, they were planning something. What was it? Why did they show their hand now?

If Faith had been present, she would throw out that a little torture might loosen their tongues. Wesley was not against using that technique in this instance.

"Her stuff is gone. There wasn't even a shampoo bottle left. Looks like she cleared out of there in a hurry. Did you know that Faith is a slob?"

Yeah, he knew that Faith wasn't the best housekeeper in the world. He was lucky if she picked up her dirty clothes. Now thinking about her habits, he wondered what in hell was going on? He knew she was not happy, knew that she had wanted a change. Now that he had calmed down and he could think about the situation, something just didn't click.

As he headed out the door, Wesley knew of only one way to find out if Faith did indeed skip out on him. Charging down the hall, he hurried to her room. Willow was a little slow on the uptake, but followed at a distance. Pushing the door open, he looked around at the mess she had left. Bed covers were askew, towels were on the floor, a chair was tipped over. It still smelled like Faith.

They had decided that sharing a room would not be appropriate, although they had spent nearly every waking minute together. She had spent just as much time in his room as he did in hers. Crouching down, he searched underneath her bed, pulling out a box. She didn't even know he knew about her little stash of trinkets.

Opening the box, he saw the few things that Faith had managed to keep over the years, a few photos of her youth, a few mementos, things that she cherished. She would never leave this behind.

"What's that?" Willow said from behind him.

"Faith didn't leave of her own free will," he announced as he got up from his crouched position.

As he did, to turn to look at Willow with the box in his hands, pain so intense hit him head on. The box fell to the ground, spilling its contents over the floor. The bed seemed to rush up to meet him way too fast. It didn't matter to him right then when it was all he could do to keep breathing.

Willow's touch brought him back to himself, if just a little. He managed to whisper to her, to tell her he knew exactly where Faith was.

"Dungeon," he whispered into Willow's ear.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Cordelia whispered as she watched what was going on. Yeah, she was breaking the rules. She wasn't supposed to be watching Wes and Faith. It was just that Angel wasn't exactly in a sharing mood lately and her moods were anything but happy. The two of them were a pair, which meant that depressed Angel wasn't hanging out with Wes and Faith that much anymore. What she wouldn't do for Angel and Buffy to get back together again.

Cordelia gasped a little at that thought. She never in her right mind would want the two lovebirds to get back together. She wanted Angel for herself. Of course, being corporally challenged, it didn't look like that would happen ever again. Warning Angel of the impending doom was her job now, job be damned.

She immediately popped into Angel's room, only to find him not there. Dammit, where did he go? Hearing the shower running, Cordy flung open the door to find Angel just sitting there, totally dressed, soaking wet. Holy shit, indeed. He was worse than she thought.

"Angel, sweetie, I need your help now. Faith and Wes are in a load of trouble. Get up."

Angel slowly acknowledged her presence, shaking the water out of his eyes. Even drenched, he still could make her dead heart beat faster. Snap out of it, she said to herself. Time to save the world again. Cordy didn't think she was being overdramatic on this. If Faith did die, it might just mess up all the slayers in the world. It was just a hunch, but usually her hunches were pretty dead on, especially when being followed up by those damn visions.

Angel stood up, walked toward her, dripping from his wet clothes and lifted his hand to her cheek. Yes, he could touch her. He was the only one who could touch her. As soon as he touched her, she knew. This changed everything. Oh shit, what could have happened in a few hours to change it all?

"You're human," she gasped as she felt the warmth from him that she had never felt before.

"I don't understand," Angel responded back, so obviously in awe of what had happened to him.

"We can't deal with this right now. If you don't help Faith and Wes, they're both gonna die and I can't let that happen. Faith's in the dungeon. Please go."

A look of recognition, of regret, of calm came over Angel all at once. He wouldn't turn to dust in the sunlight, or so she thought. What else had he lost the ability to do?

"Go," she commanded.

Angel turned and ran out of the room as fast as he could.

"Cordelia, what's going on and why am I here too?" Fred asked from behind her. "I just saw Angel take off down the hall. I don't understand. One moment I was outside your door, ready to pound it down, the next minute I'm standin' here. I don't feel so great," Fred said as she held her stomach.

It all clicked together in her mind. Whoever was doing this had screwed them royally. They had put the team at a significant disadvantage. If Wes and Faith fell, if they didn't survive whatever was happening to them, then Team Angel would crumble.

"We need to go help Angel, sweetie. Just listen to me. No matter what happens in the next few minutes, just realize this. They can hurt you. Just remember that. Be careful."

Cordelia took Fred's hand and ran.

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Spike eyed Roger Wyndam-Pryce up and down, waiting for the ponce to run for it. But he didn't. He just sat there, little smirk on his face, like he was king of the world or something. What Spike wouldn't do to wipe that smirk off his face. The slayer girls were all on the ready, their watchers standing there, milling about. Something wasn't quite right though. He couldn't put his finger on it. Explanations weren't always his strong suit.

Buffy stormed into the room, looking like something the cat dragged in. She was supposed to be in Italy, staying with Dawn. Dawn was right behind her, dragging some kid with long hair and surly look on his face.

"You want to tell me what is going on? I get here and all hell has broken loose," Buffy shouted.

"You're all here. Now my plan can be put into place," Roger announced, standing at attention.

It was never good when the villain in the piece made that kind of statement, Spike knew. He knew this because he'd used that wording too many times to count. It was then that he realized that the "kid" behind Dawn was Connor, Angel's son. His memories came flooding back into place. It was almost like one of those bubbles had popped over his head. All he knew about Connor was the kid was super strong. Angel hadn't been that sharing, but he knew that he and Darla had a son.

Only he didn't move from his spot. Buffy looked into his eyes, like she was hoping something hadn't happened to him. He'd seen that look a few times before. She crossed the room, grabbed him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. It had been so long since they'd even touched, it kind of startled him.

"Oh no," she cried. "I was right."

"No, I was right," Dawn countered. "Crap."

"You're human, Spike," Buffy told him as she looked into her eyes.

"Bloody hell," Spike answered, knowing full well that she was right. "Bloody hell."

He knew exactly was responsible for his change. Even though his status was different, his mind was the same. Before Roger could move, Spike had him pinned to the floor. No longer with super human strength, it didn't mean he couldn't fight.

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Angel had encountered beasts, demons, vampires, hell, even evil humans along the way in his journey over the last few hundred years. He was now what he had wanted to be for so long. Human. Cordy was right. He was human, which meant he was more vulnerable now than he had ever been before. Having not tested his strength, he was afraid that he wouldn't be in time to help Faith. He was able to avoid all contact with everyone else, making his way down to the basement part of the Watchers' Council unseen. It wasn't easy since it seemed like the place was crawling with guys with guns. If you can't use demons, why not use special ops with night vision? At least his stealthiness was still intact.

Angel knew of only two cells down in the dungeon. They had kept Mark in one of those until he had escaped. That door was still flung open, half off its hinges. She had to be in the other one. Its door was shut tight to the outside world. He cringed knowing that he had to open it. As it so happened, the keys were right there. Angel just hoped he didn't find Faith dead already.

There were at least twenty keys on that ring, all different sizes and shapes and no way to tell which one fit. Oh crap, what if he tried one and it sealed the room shut for good? He had read way too much Harry Potter, he mused. When he tried the first key, he noticed that instead of opening the lock, it slid another bolt shut, or that's what it sounded like. Oh boy, was he screwed.

Cordy and Fred came barreling around the corner.

"Work fast. Company's coming," Fred stated, looking back over shoulder.

"I tried the first key and it slid another lock into place."

"Oh crap," Cordelia announced, watching around the corner for the bad guys to appear.

Fred grabbed the ring from him, examining all the keys one by one. Angel touched Fred's shoulder, hoping against hope that this was the real Fred. She was here. Cordy was here. He was human. Had the world gone mad?

"OK, they all have symbols. I think I might be able to read them. They have to be used in sequence to work."

Angel had already started the process. They were so screwed. What if he had used the wrong key?

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Willow's hands tingled. She couldn't worry about why that was happening right that instant. Wesley was possibly dying on the bed right before her. Touching Wesley's chest so she could shock him out of whatever was happening to him, she noticed that nothing was happening. Willow cried out in bewilderment. The tingling had meant only one thing: her magical powers were tapped. Good, old-fashioned medical training was needed instead of her zapping power.

Wesley's eyes were rolled back inside his head and he certainly wasn't breathing all that well. So Willow did the only thing she could think of to save him. She was never so glad to have received training in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It wasn't working though. He had completely stopped breathing, eyes staring directly at her, blaming her for failing. Willow screamed with anger.

"No one steals my power," she shouted to the air. Her fingers tingled again.

Giles rushed into the room just as Willow felt that familiar rush of adrenaline race through her veins. She wasn't denying herself the power this time, not this time when it could mean they all could die.

"Willow, no," Giles rushed her, tackling her off the bed.

The two of them wrestled until Giles had her pinned to the floor.

"Giles, let me go. He's dying," Willow screeched at the top of her lungs.

He, for once, listened to her, helping her to her feet. In passing a mirror, she saw what Giles saw. Her hair was black as coal, eyes the same. There weren't any veins popping out because, hey, not a good look for her at all. She could control these magicks, they wouldn't control her. And they weren't hers either, but that didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was Wes.

Placing her hands on his chest, Willow knew for a fact now that they were under attack. She also knew exactly who was to blame. She'd need all their help to challenge whoever was responsible. Only no one else had any power. Wes stirred under her hands, now breathing a little more normal. She was so glad she'd been taught to steal someone else's power. Score one for the good guys.

"Faith," Wesley screamed as he came to.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred finally figured out the sequence of keys needed to open the door. Luck would have it that Angel actually picked the right first key. As she inserted the other eight to make nine in total, she still marveled at the fact that she was alive, heart beating, blood pumping, head aching. She could feel, see, touch. Why wasn't she screaming for joy?

As the last lock clicked, she looked back at Cordy, who looked to be hyperventilating. Angel threw the door open to find some guy trying to help Faith.

"She's not breathing," the guy announced as they all ran into the room.

Angel grabbed Faith from him, shaking her a little harder than necessary.

"Faith, wake up now," Angel cried to the limp form in his arms.

Cordy sunk to the floor, hand over her mouth.

"Angel, CPR," Fred told him as she tried to take Faith's limp form from him.

"I tried," the other man said, hovering over them.

Fred didn't listen to either one of them and made Angel put her on the ground. The other guy helped her as Angel backed away a little. Fred wasn't getting any sign of life from Faith. Dammit was all she could think. Wesley would be devastated if Faith died.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And he found out pretty quickly what was happening when he raced into the room, Willow and Giles directly behind him. Fred was giving her mouth-to-mouth, but it just wasn't working. Wesley didn't even look at her as he pushed her away from Faith. He was shaking like a leaf. He knew, she thought. He knew.

Fred backed away, standing with Angel and Cordy.

"Willow," Wesley growled at the witch.

"It's too late," Willow told him.

Fred couldn't help but cry. She never wanted to see Wesley hurt. Never. This was so not fair to him.

Willow had somehow managed to defeat whatever dampening field that had been placed on the Watchers' Council building, so why couldn't he?

"You have better mojo than that," he could hear Cordelia in his head.

Oh, he knew that he did. He knew that if he concentrated hard enough, he could break through and summon more power than any of them combined. Did he want to? Would Faith approve?

"I can't let you go," he whispered in her ear, as the world came to a standstill around him.

Wesley looked around at all his friends, all that he had gained and lost in the last year. They were all here now, save Charles, who was still recuperating back in Los Angeles. They had all paid a heavy price for trying to save the world. Fred, Cordy, and many others had paid the ultimate price along with him. Angel was probably damaged beyond repair. Faith had just been hanging on by a thread.

Faith looked so peaceful lying on the cold ground of the cellar. It was dark and dank, not a place to die because of some lying scum, who needed to suffer. He had a choice to make. Or rather, Faith had a choice to make this time. He wouldn't keep her here against her free will. That had happened to him. It had turned out alright in the end, but he wasn't about to revive Faith from the dead just because he wanted her alive again. She needed to make that choice.

"Faith," he started, holding onto her hands. "I care about you deeply. But I know, deep down, if you want it all to end, then you must do what's right for you. But hear this, if you stay, we'll make it work."

Wesley truly didn't know if he could let her go. It had hurt too much when he lost Fred. He had been out of his mind when Illyria had taken over. This time, it probably would be too much. He still couldn't take the decision away from her.

"It's your choice," he told her, voice cracking.

Over his shoulder, he heard a noise, only to turn and see Faith next to him. She made her choice, he thought, heart breaking.

"You know, you always were a dumbass. Pretty smart dumbass though. What's a girl gotta do not to die around here?"

Wesley was confused. Here he was, holding Faith's cold hands in his, and looking at Faith right beside him.

"You don't want to die?" he questioned her.

"When have I wanted to die? Ok, strike that. Why do you think I'd leave all you crazy people here to run the show? Oh, by the way, Cordy and Fred are looking a little undead at the moment, Angel is warm, and my fucking slayer powers are all wonky. If you're not around with that big brain of yours to help us all figure this out, who will be?"

"The question on the floor was yours, Faith," Wesley reminded his slayer.

"Oh, yeah. What makes you think I'm gonna just roll over and die?"

With that, the world came rushing back, noise, smells, everything around him, bombarding him to the point where he wanted to put his hands over his ears. Only it wasn't his hands over his ears, they were Faith's hands.

"Hey, Watcherman. What the fuck did you just do?"

She was breathing, alive in his arms. He had no idea what he had done other than talk to her. "Faith," he swallowed, gathering her up in his arms.

She was home, in his arms, surrounded by his family. What more could he want in life?

"OK, someone want to tell me what in hell is going on?" Buffy asked from the door of the cell. "We got big trouble up top. Guys with guns. Have I told you how much I hate guys with guns?"

"I think we need to go hit something," Faith groaned from the ground. Of course, she was as weak as a kitten, so no hitting.

As he looked around the room, Wesley knew that they were outnumbered now. Faith was down and out, Angel looked a little less pale, as did Spike, and Buffy looked almost as bad as Faith. Cordy and Fred definitely did not belong there, but were. The only people who looked a little more normal were Giles and Willow, but only a little.

Cordy and Fred helped Angel up off the ground as Buffy and Spike leaned on each other. Everyone around him looked a little more human, more vulnerable than they ever had.

"What I wouldn't do for a Mountain Dew right now?" Spike flippantly said, making Angel growl long and low under his throat.

"We're essentially trapped," Giles noted as they all heard footsteps coming down the hall.

Dawn and Connor stepped out of the shadows, looking as youthful and somewhat cheerful as ever.

"Giles, you're so negative," Dawn told him as she tossed something on the ground.

A portal appeared out of nowhere.

"Cool," Connor approvingly told the girl. "We should probably abandon ship."

"What about all the other girls?" Giles asked as they all gathered at the portal's entrance.

"Their powers are gone, unfortunately. Right now, I figuring that there are no slayers," Willow announced. "We should probably leave," she now urged everyone.

Wesley didn't need any incentive to escape their potential tomb. Picking Faith up, he jumped through the portal, ending up in a field somewhere. They all made it through to who knows where, all shivering at the cold, night air.

"All those girls, all those lives," Giles groaned out, slumping against Willow for support.

"He doesn't think you have good mojo," Connor explained to Dawn.

"He never did," Dawn answered back. "Giles, they're right over there."

Wesley turned to see many people milling around in the dark, hugging, comforting each other. Baby slayers and potential watchers all sticking together was a sight to behold.

"You couldn't have landed us in Tahiti, somewhere warm. Bikinis," Connor asked Dawn as they started walking toward the large group off in the distance.

Dawn punched his arm in response.

"How do they know each other?" Angel looked at Cordelia, walking arm-in-arm with the rest of the group.

"No idea."

So, they didn't have a base of operations, there were potentially no more slayers in the world, his father had taken over one of the most important operations against evil, and they were out in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, Dawn. Perfect spot. There's my cottage," Giles piped up.

Willow sighed heavily. "Do you have enough room for over a hundred people?"

"Well, not really. But we'll manage somehow."

Buffy snickered a little, with Dawn rolling her eyes in response.

Faith had gotten down out of Wesley's arms, walking next to him, occasionally touching arms as they walked slowly to join the others.

"Do you remember what happened, Faith?"

"Not much. This just really sucks. I know what it feels like to not have your slayer powers. But there's something else going on, Wes. Your girlfriend is alive and well. Congrats on that, by the way."

Wesley grabbed her hand in his, trying to reassure her that she mattered in his life. While he was glad to see Fred again, he wanted Faith to understand his feelings were definitely pointed in her direction, not to the former physicist.

He wished he could slow time down just like he had back in that dark dungeon, so the two of them could have a moment alone. Time was not on their side though. Stopping on the outside of the large group gathering, he turned Faith to look in her eyes. He could sense her apprehension, her wanting to run from the situation. But she was different now. He should have seen it earlier. The angular lines of her face, the determined set of her eyes, the stance of defiance that could only be Faith.

Instead of doing the right thing by joining the middle of the group to help Giles, Wes pulled on her arm, to get her away from the crowd. Let Giles and his group take care of the slayers and their watchers. He needed to take care of the one person in the world that meant everything to him.

Dawn watched them, mouth open. "Wow. When did this happen? How come no one tells me what happens around here?" she inquired of Buffy.

Faith just laughed as the two of them walked off into the distance, hand in hand. It was only when they reached a knarled, old tree that he stopped her.

"We runnin'?" Faith asked as she turned to face him.

"No. I do want to apologize."

"We both seem to be doing that a lot lately."

"I thought, I just thought…" He couldn't finish the sentence without his voice cracking.

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong. And I thought too much. So why don't we call it even."

Faith's eyes glowed in the midnight light, hair all tangled and matted, clothes filthy from spending a harrowing day down in the dungeon. Wesley didn't care one bit. As she leapt up to stare him eye-to-eye, he realized that even the distance they had walked, everyone still had turned to look at them. They couldn't hear the two of them speak, but they were pointing.

"We have an audience."

"Don't drop me then. Wouldn't look good to the kids."

Faith's legs didn't have the power behind them that they normally did, but she still crushed herself to his front, making him a bit uncomfortable but happier than ever. Crushing his mouth over hers, he heard a few cheers off in the distance, then shut it all out. She was here, he was here. That's all that mattered. Of course, there was so much to figure out, so much to plan for. That didn't matter. Faith was the only thing that mattered in this world. His father could wait his turn. Wesley's fingers traveled up into Faith's hair, tangling with in the thickness of it.

He heard Spike yell, "Get a room" off in the distance. Room? With over a hundred potentials and their watchers? It would be some time before they would be alone.

"You sure you don't want to blow this taco stand?" Faith reminded him as she shifted a little, making him groan.

"There must be an abandoned rock around here somewhere."

Faith laughed with glee. "In the next county, maybe."

Wesley finally lost his grip on Faith, not so gently setting her down on the ground. But she didn't mind at all. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she buried her head against his chest.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Um, Cordy. This is different."

Damn right it was different. The Powers must have had enough of her meddling and sent her back to the land of the living. Or Lilah had taken over and booted her out. Either scenario wasn't exactly what she had planned. Nor was the fact that Mr. McBroodypants was now human. And he was shivering in the night air.

"Kinda," was all she could say.

"This is really freaking me out," Angel answered, making Cordy laugh just a little.

"Ditto."

"Wesley and Faith seem cozy," Angel babbled as she watched the scene unfold before her.

"Yeah. Cozy." Not like they'd ever be that way. Besides, Angel would probably drop her to the ground with not having those vampire skills anymore.

"We good?"

She thought he'd never ask, and snuck her hand into his. The weirdest thing was the warmth. His hand was always cool to the touch. He shivered a little more, clothes still damp from his freak-out shower.

"Yep. It could change tomorrow, you know?" This was not what she wanted to talk about, but they had to face reality. She could go back to where she came from and he could burst into flames at the first sign of sun.

"Do you want it to change?"

Did she want to be a Power, rule over lots of people, be in charge girl, help people? Hell, she was already doing that before she bit the dust, no pun intended.

"Why would I want it to change?" she blurted out.

Angel smiled her way, that goofy, little grin of his. "I should probably find out why Connor is here, with Dawn."

The two watched as Connor hung on Dawn's every word, following her around like a lost puppy.

"Oh geez, he's got it bad, doesn't he?"

"Like father, like son," Angel agreed.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roger Wyndam-Pryce was not pleased at all. With all the power he had amassed, all the witches at his disposal, he still was not in control of the slayers. Indeed, they had all been stripped of their power at the moment. He needed control of them for his plan to succeed. He also needed to dispose of THE slayer so his plan could be completed. With Faith's death, everything would be in place. He could rid the world of the demon evil that lurked. World leaders would bow at his feet. He would be in control of it all.

The opening of the portals around the area thwarted his plans, but only for a while. He'd definitely find out how that had taken place and make sure it couldn't again. His son would see why he was the person to be in control of the Watchers' Council. Everyone and everything would fall into place. If he had to kill his only son to do it, then so be it. He was expendable, especially now since his loyalties lie with Faith and his other so-called friends, instead of with his real family.

He would sap the power his son had managed to obtain, enslave the witch Willow and torture Rupert Giles just for fun. Slaughtering the vampires Angel and Spike he would take great pleasure in. He would spare no mercy for the slayers though. He could always make more.


End file.
